Zeitgeist Arc
by Iwasbored
Summary: "Do you believe in destiny?" "Yes. I do believe in destiny if only so that I can stab it in the face."
1. Prologue: Destiny's Crossroad

**Prologue-Destiny's Crossroad**

 **Vale**

"Ticket please," a bored Faunus stated a second time in an annoyed tone behind the counter.

Simply shocked about my current circumstance, I numbly handed whatever was in my hand. Wait, wasn't there a more pressing matter?! I started to frantically pat my body, particularly my chest. I was damn sure that I was dying earlier. I did just have a giant scorpion stab its giant gold stinger through me. I know it wasn't a dream given how much pain I was in moments ago. I even felt all my senses start becoming mute as I bled out.

"You okay, kid?" the Faunus asked after noticing my obvious distress.

"Yeah... I think I'm fine..."

But was I really? I mean, I just died. I may not be dying or have a gaping hole in my chest anymore, but I'm pretty sure being dead was not being fine. Usually, that would be considered the exact opposite of being fine and_

"Kid, take a deep breath. It's just the nerves acting up. See it all the time for the newbies. Whatever you're experiencing is perfectly normal."

"Normal?" I gasped as I noticed that in my confusion I had been panting pretty hard. Must look like a bloody psychopath.

"Yes, normal. You're here because you wanted to be a Hunter. Correct?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here. Me and my stupid dream of becoming a hero worth something," I replied sadly. Right, I'm here only because I was too damn stubborn to listen to literally everyone who told me that my dream of becoming a hero was impossible. I should have listened to them when they said it was a fool's dream only destined to end in failure. By the gods, I didn't even have my Aura unlocked until Initiation (fat load of good that did for me when Pyrrha and I ran into that monster). And because of my recklessness, I died.

Looking around, I noticed that Pyrrha was nowhere around me. Thank goodness. At least she didn't die because of me. Or was she shuttled somewhere else? Hopefully, she managed to get away from the monster after it had impaled me.

"Kid, no dream is stupid. Take it from me. Plus, the fact that you made it this far in the name of your dreams means that it wasn't stupid. Countless others don't even have the chance to get as far as you have."

"Really? You mean that?"

"Kid, only people who have potential can participate in Beacon's Initiation test. Headmaster Ozpin is known for being quite good at sifting through new recruits and finding gems."

"Even if I were too pathetic to even get past Initiation? If I were to die?"

"It happens time to time, but that's the life of a Hunter for you. Sometimes things just don't work out and Hunters will die. It's the risk that comes with the job, but it's the job of a Hunter to step up to protect everyone even at the cost of themselves. You lot are all that keeps the Grimm at bay after all. Don't think of death as something disgraceful. It sucks, but for a Hunter, death is a constant companion. Whether you die in glorious combat, in the comfort of your own bed, or even at the beginning of your career, the death of a Hunter or even a Hunter in training is a death worthy of heroes. After all, you are risking your life to protect all other life. No matter what, anyone who tries to be a Hunter is a hero in my book."

"Thanks," I managed to choke out. So even a pathetic failure like me was a hero despite my lack of deeds. Somehow hearing this was comforting despite the fact that I was dead.

"No problem, kid. But enough with the dreary talk. Don't want to miss your airship and the line behind you is starting to build up," the Faunus said with a comforting look on his face.

"Thanks. Sorry for being such a bother."

"It's no bother, you aren't the first to have a breakdown here," the Faunus chuckled.

"Yeah, but seriously thanks," I said as I calmly boarded the airship.

I guess I have no regrets. So I died before my career started, but at least I died for my dreams and that my dreams were worthy of dying a hero's death. Though I wonder where that left me now. Where would I go now since I was still aware of things? I mean, I was on the airship bound for some destination. Wait... if I was still conscious, would travel by airship induce my motion sickness. I mean, being dead should mean that I had nothing in my stomach to really hurl out. Right?

My thought line was quickly disproven.

Goddamit, even in death I can't escape it.

Not wanting to hurl in the plane, I quickly tried to shuffle myself to the bathroom. I say shuffled because every bit of motion just caused my insides to roil with maximum discomfort. After some agonizing slow movement, I finally made it to the door to press the unlock button only for the door to unlock and reveal a boy around my age wearing a green... shirt? He also had a strand of pink hair in his hair and pink eyes.

Wait why am I observing his appearance. I had urgent business to attend to and I would rather not ruin this dead boy's day even further by vomiting on him.

Gently pushing his body, I managed to squeeze through the door to enter a stall and unload my... whatever the hell I was spewing.

"You okay?"

"Blergh!"

"Motion sickness?"

"Hugh Blergh!"

In response to my less than stellar answers, I felt gentle motions on my back as the boy started to rub circles on my back to help speed up my release.

"There there. Just let it all out."

"Thanks," I managed to gasp as the lest of my stomach contents finally made it out.

"No problem, try this. It'll help settle your stomach after all of this," the boy chuckled as he handed me some... greenish paste. Not wanting to offend the nice boy, I shakily stuck whatever it was in my mouth.

It was disgusting.

Wanting to spit it out, but at the same time not wanting to offend him, I simply gagged as I tried to force it down.

"Better?"

Better?! It was such a horrible experience trying to insert that thing in my body and...

"Yeah?"

Go figure. Turns out the most vomit-inducing thing I have ever eaten was also the cure for my desire to vomit.

"Glad to hear. Hopefully, it'll last the whole trip," the boy said with a light chuckle.

"If only. Knowing my luck, I'll have another episode the moment I step out of this bathroom," I weakly joked.

"Names Lie Ren by the way. But my friends call me Ren."

"Friends?"

"I would hope so considering that I was basically holding your hair back as you vomited. I may not be the most sociable, but I'm pretty sure that makes us friends."

"Sounds about right. Names Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it."

Even in death, I was such a dork.

"I'll take your word for it, Jaune," Ren stated with a light laugh.

"So what brings you here?" I asked gently as I wondered how this boy died as well.

"Same as you I suppose."

"Motion sickness? By all means, you can take my stall."

"Haha," Ren stated in the most bored tone but a light smirk adorned on his face.

"How about I start then. I'm on this ship because I wanted to be a hero and live up to my family's legacy despite having zero experience."

"Ugh... Not to be a downer for this bonding moment, but can we please have this conversation outside of the bathroom? It's not you, but..."

Yeah, this is a pretty weird place to be having a moment.

"Gotcha, why don't you head on out first. I'm going to go wash out my mouth before leaving."

Nodding silently, Ren quietly exited the bathroom with the only indication that he had truly left was the hiss of the door opening. Not wanting to keep him waiting, I quickly washed out the rancid feeling in my mouth. So I made a friend on this journey already. Too bad it was in the afterlife. Why couldn't we have met when we were both still alive? Ren wasn't disgusted by my unfortunate disposition and was actually accommodating of it despite being strangers prior.

Once I walked out of the bathroom, I was immediately tackled.

"Nora," Ren sighed out in exasperation.

Nora? As I began to get my bearings, I realized that the someone who tackled me was in a fact a girl. A very attractive girl. A very attractive girl that smelled of maple syrup. A very attractive girl that smelled of maple syrup with the biggest smile on her face. A very attractive girl that smelled of maple syrup with the biggest smile on her face and a very cushy feeling...

Bad libido. We're both dead already.

"Nora Valkyrie at your service!" the girl cheered in the most bubbly voice.

"Jaune Arc."

"Oooh... Jaune... Jaune! I like it! It's so short and sweet! Just rolls off the tongue"

"But do you love it?" I questioned hesitantly.

"Mmmm... Nope! I like Ren's name more!"

Looking back at the boy, I noticed him trying to hold back a smirk.

"Three and a half out of four. Good enough for me," I snarked.

"That's the spirit, Jaune-Jaune!"

"Sorry about, Nora. She can be overly excitable at times."

"Hey! Ren, don't make me sound like an overeager puppy! I'm trying to make a good first impression," the girl pouted as she quickly hopped off me to hang off of Ren.

"I don't see the problem. She's quite friendly."

Whatever I just said seemed to instantly make the girl jump for joy.

"See, Ren! He totally gets it!"

"So I'm assuming that you two know each other?"

"You would assume correctly, my friend. We've been together for years_"

"But you know not together-together because that would be weird! Right?" the excitable girl interjected at a pace that made it clear to me that that wasn't as such.

Oh dear. That means that these two were lovers that died and in quick succession. How sad. Somehow my situation seemed much less grave knowing that these two lovers met a cruel fate. Possibly before Nora could let Ren know how she felt about him.

Not wanting to let the conversation accidentally steer itself to a somber situation, I asked, "So how did you two end up here?"

Goddamn it, brain. You have failed me yet again.

"Right. Your question from before. Well, Nora and I both wanted to become Hunters. We wanted to get stronger to stop the Grimm from taking more lives," Ren stated calmly. Despite his demeanor, I could see the slightest tremble in his shoulder. Nora ever-present smile even became ever so slightly strained for a moment. I guess for people like us who had such dreams of grandeur and a bright future, having it cut short so quickly would always be a heavy feeling no matter how we try to process it.

Not wanting the awkward air to persist, I tried once more to steer the conversation away from any possible landmines.

"That sounded a lot nobler than my reasons. At least your main reason for fighting was to save others. Mine in comparison was all about personal glory," I chuckled glumly.

"Trying to live up to your family name, one reserved for heroes, is a worthy reason to fight. You may have personal reasons to fight that focus on you, but if it leads to helping others then it can't be a completely selfish reason. Besides... I... we also have more personal reasons. Nora and I have reasons why we would risk our lives beyond just blind altruism," Ren said in a comforting tone.

Strange. Here I was trying to comfort my new friends, and I get comforted instead. At least whatever dark air had lessened. I guess his early death wasn't the only thing on his mind. Perhaps some regret associated with why he desired to help others. Ren seemed like a good guy.

"Thanks, but I shouldn't have let my family name dictate my actions nor should I have gone off half-cocked. At least without having done more to prepare," I sighed.

"Jaune-Jaune, don't be like that! You want to help people, right! As long as some old fart didn't push you into something you didn't want to do then you should be happy! You are a hero! A knight to stand against the darkness! Plus every good adventure starts somewhere! Plus preparing is for suckers! Live life to the fullest and take on whatever it throws at you as it comes! Preparing is for wimps!"

"I think what Nora is trying to tell you is that you shouldn't dwell on so many things. You are being overly critical of yourself. You wanted to help others. That should be enough to be proud of yourself," Ren said as he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Right. I know that, but it's just that I could have done so much more before coming here. Had I done more..."

"Jaune, rarely in life is one ever prepared. We can try to stack the odds as much as we can in our favor, but life is unpredictable and we sometimes have to just make the best of what we have to deal with the situation."

"Yeah, but_"

"No buts, Jaune-Jaune! Now turn that frown upside down and let out a sloth warcry!"

"A what?!"

"A sloth warcry! Like this! BOOOOOOOOP!" she said as she hopped right into my face and poked my nose.

"Boop?"

"Needs some work, but we'll get you there in no time!" Nora excitably stated before wrapping her arm around my neck. She then proceeded to swing me like a ragdoll.

Despite the literal pain in my neck, I couldn't help but laugh. The sheer absurdity of a sloth warcry just broke me out of my funk. I mean really, a sloth warcry?

"Boop! Motherfuckers!"

"That's right, Jaune-Jaune! BOOOOOOOOOOP! Join us Renny!"

Chuckling, Ren stated, "As interesting as that sounds, perhaps we should calm down a bit. We may be disturbing the other passengers."

"Ahhhh, why's the party a party pooper?"

"Then you just need to make everyone in the party... not a party pooper," I joked.

"That sounds like a great idea, Jaune-Jaune! Come one, Renny! Let's go turn some frowns upside down!" Nora said before releasing me and running to the upper deck.

"Want to come along?" Ren offered me.

"Nah. I think I'll sit this one out for the time being. I want to collect my thoughts for a bit. Sorry for being such a downer."

"I can understand that feeling, and it's no problem. The nerves are just getting to you," Ren stated before heading to where his wayward friend went.

Getting up, I just meandered my way to the window to take in the sights. With the clouds gently rolling by the windows of the ship, I finally felt a semblance of peace. Ren and Nora were really good people. I'm glad I could meet them in life, even in death. They were so kind and comforting. Even in death they were together and having an adventure. I'd like to believe that perhaps... they would let me tag along for the ride with them.

Perhaps being dead wouldn't be nearly as bad as I thought it would be so long as there were others like Ren and Nora.

Come on, World! Jaune Arc is ready!

Being dead meant nothing to me!

 **Beacon**

I wasn't dead.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

1) Zeitgeist is German for time spirit.

2) You have no idea how weird it was trying to keep a conversation going where one guy everyone was dead without cluing anyone else to the fact.


	2. Arc Life 2: Stranger Friends

**Arc Life #2-Stranger Friends**

 **Beacon**

I wasn't dead.

This scene. I've seen it before. Exiting the airship, a familiar bundle of red cloth lied in the center of a minor crater that ruined the once smooth pavement of Beacon's entrance. Further along, I could see another figure clad in all white to accentuate her white flowing heir huffing along as she dragged her precious cargo away. The girl that was left behind in the result of her explosive sneeze, silently and awkwardly made motions as if trying to call back the girl in white. Despite the obviously bad first impression and the savage dressing down, I could see how the young huntress in training wished to apologize and make amends as though she thought doing so would at least allow her a chance to possibly become friends with the girl.

The scene was all too familiar. This was a recreation of my first day at Beacon. But could this merely be an image of my past? If I were truly dead then I could not rule out the idea that I was just reliving scenes from my life. I don't know the rules of the afterlife. Perhaps this was just an aspect, and something I just had to get used to.

But what if... What if I was alive still?

What if I was back in the past?

I hesitantly walked up to my 'first' friend here. As I tried to confirm whether or not the both of us were either dead, if this was just an illusion, or I somehow went backward in time.

"Hi there. Having a rough start?" I gently asked as I approached.

Turning around with a surprised expression and a flutter of rose petals as she had hastened her movement with her Semblance, the girl eeked out a short yelp. Silver eyes shot wide open and full of life as she tried to take in my form as she tried to process who I was.

As I waited patiently for her to respond, the girl slowly began to realize that I was, in fact, talking to her. That I had not made a mistake. That she was possibly keeping me waiting.

"I'm sorry! Oh my god, you're not going to start yelling at me too for being rude! I_"

Guess that cements it. The events differed from my original version of it and I was able to talk with somebody rather than be forced to watch scenes. I'm still alive! Suck it, Death!

Not wanting for her to talk herself into a corner due to her nervous habit, I mirthfully chuckled and quickly tried to squash any possible worries that had popped in her head.

"No worries. My name is Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it."

Goddamit brain! Even with a second chance, you still resort to making the same corny introduction. Haven't established that that line does not work at all?

"Do they now?" she asked with a light giggle.

"Let me correct that. They _like_ it."

"They _like_ it?" Ruby asked as a small grin still stuck to her face as she became more at ease with my presence.

"That's what the last girl said when I introduced myself."

"HAHAHAHA!"

"Glad to see you're feeling better now, Miss..." I continued.

"Ruby Rose," she responded with a chirp.

"Well, Ruby. I know that I found you lying in a crater_"

"Can we please not dwell on that?" Ruby interrupted with a cute pout and blush as she tried to fold herself into her red cloak.

"Maybeeeeee?"

"Jaune!"

"Alright, alright! But only if you will be my friend."

"Your friend? Me? But_"

"No buts. Be my friend... Please?"

"But_"

"Nope!"

"I'm awkward," Ruby said as she started kicking the ground shyly.

"So am I."

"We don't know anything about each other."

"My mother says that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet," I shrugged.

"I'm fifteen."

"I'm seventeen. Also, nice job in getting in Beacon so early."

"You could do so much better_"

"Nope! Ruby, I want you to be my friend."

"Why?"

"Do you not want to be my friend?" I asked while feigning a hurt expression.

"Of course I do!"

"Great, then we're friends! Glad we could agree with that," I said with a smile.

"... We're friends? We're friends. We're Friends! My first friend at Beacon!" Ruby slowly said with increasing excitement as the reality settled in her mind. Her exuberance soon turned into a dance of rose petals as she quickly zipped around me in excitement. It was extremely endearing as her happiness just filled the atmosphere. It was strange that she was so hesitant and happy this time. The first time that we had interacted, she wasn't nearly this ecstatic. I wonder what made her that much happier this time. Was it the conversation or had I done something to warrant a different reaction? The only other thing that I think that could have altered her reactions was that she didn't witness me vomiting on her sister's shoes. I could see how that would make her happier knowing that I wasn't ridiculously pathetic, but not why it would make her more hesitant this time around. If anything, I figured she would want to be friends with a normal person rather than Vomit Boy. Something to possibly ponder at a later point.

Wanting to tease the girl ever so lightly I decided to continue the conversation.

"Ah, as your first friend here at Beacon I reserve the right to bring up the fact that I found you in a crater. How does Crater Face sound?"

Revenge is so sweet. No one gets to call me Vomit Boy.

"Jaune, you said you would drop that!"

"But as your friend, I reserve the right to bring it up."

"Then I'm going to call you... you... Mamas Boy," Ruby muttered out as she tried to scramble for something in our conversation to pull from.

"Nope!"

"Nope?! You don't get a say in that! It's my nickname for you!"

"It's not nearly funny enough, and you'd be surprised how many people are in fact Mamas Boys. Hardly fair for me to let you call me something that could be anyone. Try again... Crater Face!" I laughed out.

"Don't be a meanie, and I will think of something... later."

"Okay, Okay. I'll lay off for now. So how are you feeling now?"

"I'm feeling great!" Ruby responded while puffing her chest out.

"That's great to hear. Are you excited for Beacon?"

"Duhhhh. It's Beacon. It's the place to go for anyone trying to become a Huntress," she said before staring at me and continuing with,"...or Hunter."

Choosing to ignore how she seemed to have forgotten that she was talking to a guy midconversation, I asked, "What are you most excited for?"

"The weapons of course! It's like meeting new people but better since it's like looking at a person's soul. Take a look at my baby, Crescent Rose, for instance."

With a quick flourish, she drew the collapsed weapon from her back and quickly twirled the contraption as it began to unfold. In mere moments the weapon extended itself into a long pole taller than Ruby herself with blade quickly making a menacing sound as it cut through the air to form a blood red scythe. To finish the reveal Ruby quickly slammed the weapon down with the blade digging through solid brick and concrete. All in all, a masterpiece of a weapon in the eyes of a novice such as myself. Possibly a masterpiece in the eyes of an expert as well. It was a glorious weapon of death...

But it was something I had already seen before.

I whistled, "A customized scythe with a built-in high impact sniper rifle. I'm assuming you use the blade as a stand to reduce the recoil or you use the recoil as part of a way for you to move quickly in the air or to change what direction you make be going. Don't see too many people who use or even know how to make scythes. Did you make it yourself?"

"..."

Hearing nothing but a high pitched squealing barely within my ability to hear, I could only see Ruby with her hands clasped together with her eyes open and full of adoration(?).

"Oh my god!" Ruby managed to finally squeal out before tackling me to give me the most affectionate hug I have ever had from a nonfamily member.

"Ruby?"

"You're a weapon geek like me! Oh my god! We're going to be the best of friends! And... Wait... Do you know how to make cookies?"

Startled by the sudden change in topic, I automatically responded, "I can bake."

"Best Friend Of All Time!"

"Okay, Ruby," I laughed as the excited girl wrapped herself around me.

"So, I showed you mine. Can I see yours?"

Oh boy, she was going to disappointed that I didn't have some epic death machine after she had come to the conclusion that I was some weapon nut like her.

"Well... I haven't got anything as impressive as Crescent Rose, but I do have a classic. It's a weapon that's been passed down my family for generations as an Arcs first weapon. It's called Crocea Mors," I said as I slowly drew out my families blade from its sheath, "A simple blade that never needs maintenance with a sheath capable of turning into a supposedly unbreakable shield."

"OOOhhh!"

Well, that was different. Ruby was far more interested this time than last time. The only thing different was that this time I presented the sword with far less self-depreciation. I guess Dad was right when he said girl's liked confidence.

"So can it do anything else?"

There we go.

"No... but I think that's because it's supposed to be a starting weapon to help me figure out what works best for me. It's ability to not be destroyed makes it a good and reliable beginner weapon. It's also pretty balanced so that I can probably figure out if I need a heavier weapon or not. There's probably a lot of other small details that give me an idea of what I can do to craft the perfect weapon for me."

"Crafting the perfect weapon?! I can do that! If you have any ideas, come to me so that we can make you the very best weapon!"

"Of course, Ruby."

"I'm so excited!"

"Me too, Ruby. Me too. Now, why don't we head on for orientation? We have been talking for some time now."

 **Beacon-Auditorium**

"Ruby, I saved you a spot!" a girl hollered out somewhere in the auditorium.

"Yang! You ditched me!" Ruby hollered back as she quickly dashed away. I would have lost her had it not been for her distinctive cloak and the trail of red rose petals showing the path that she had hurtled across.

And there was now another familiar face, as I casually walked to where Ruby had dashed off to. I noticed that there were more spaces around Ruby's blonde haired sister. I guess we did manage to get here quicker since we weren't lost this time around as we had unintentionally taken the scenic route.

With no real reason to go elsewhere, I simply decided to go introduce myself once more.

"Hello. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies _like_ it."

Seriously brain!? Why must you insist on using that line? Sure it's worked three for three this time around, but it's still lame.

"Like?"

"Used to be love, but the ladies have convinced me otherwise," I sheepishly said.

"Snrk!"

Yeah. Saw that coming from both Ruby and Yang. But at least their laughing with me and not at me this time. Right?

I'll take what I can get. Honestly, a much better meeting than the first time. All things considering.

"I'm Ruby's sister. Name's Yang Xiao-Long. But you can call me Yang, Mr. Adorkable."

"You know, I feel I should be offended that you just called me adorkable..."

"But?"

"... At least being adorkable is... cute? Better than what you probably call all the other guys trying to get your number."

"Are you hitting on me?"

"Only if it's working."

"Yep, Mr. Adorkable it is. Where did you find this guy, Rubes?"

"It's more like he found me after I exploded after you ditched me!"

"Geez, Rubes. You already had a meltdown? We haven't even met the teachers."

"Literally!"

"I can attest to Crater Face's account of the events," I not so helpfully supplied.

"Jaune!"

"Hey, you brought the subject up, Crater Face. You can't get on my case for supporting your statement."

"Wait, my baby sister actually exploded?!"

"Yes! After you left, I ran into this crabby girl and accidentally knocked her stuff over, then she got angry and started yelling at me, and she was shaking this bottle of Dust in my face, and then I sneezed and then there was an explosion! I tried to apologize, but she just kept yelling at me and_"

"There you are!" a very irritated voice sounded out.

"Oh god, it's happening again!" Ruby screamed as she quickly used her Semblance to hide along my side.

Looking towards where Ruby ran from, I was greeted with the fuming face of one angry princess.

"Hello?" I greeted hesitantly. I honestly had no idea how to feel about this encounter. On one hand, I originally found Weiss to be quite attractive like one of those princesses that are shown in stories. On the other hand, my previous life experience of her had her act as though I were some pest even when I had not talked to her before. Though to be fair, I did not make the best of first impressions given that I had tried to hit on her in the locker room. Didn't help that my attempt of calling her by an endearing nickname just managed to turn her annoyance to full blown anger.

"Not talking to you scraggly," she hissed.

Yep, any attraction I had held for her just froze and shattered into nothingness. Hard to hold affection for someone when they loathed your very existence before even having any chance to acknowledge your existence. I literally just said hello and she was treating me like dirt. I guess she really was insulting me before when she made mention of cute boys in my first life. The sarcasm should have been obvious, but I guess I never noticed it before due to my rattled nerves and desperation for female attention.

In any case, I was not going to stand for her behavior.

"And you rudely interrupted a conversation I was having with my friend. Seeing how neither of us wants to talk to each other, and you're scaring my friend, would you kindly leave? I'd very much like to be able to talk with my friends in peace."

"Do you even know who I am?" she asked as she gave this baffled expression. Figures that the thought that someone not kissing her ass was something she couldn't comprehend. Probably used to everyone putting her on a pedestal in an attempt to stay in her good graces. After all, she was... "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the SDC," I stated briefly as I recalled how proud she was of that fact.

"You know that, and you have the audacity to tell me what to go away?"

"Merely a suggestion, given how you haven't exactly endeared yourself to us," I calmly pointed out how I was annoyed, Yang was starting to simmer, and Ruby was scared into hiding behind me.

"I'm a Schnee. A Schnee Demand And Deserve Respect!"

"So what? I'm an Arc, but you don't see me swinging my name around like some weapon to get people to either fear or worship me."

Oh god, mouth! What are you doing! Think before you speak! Why am I escalating the situation!?

"How dare you!? I'm not doing that at all!"

"Could have fooled me," I responded as I gestured to Yang and Ruby as a means to de-escalate the situation. Hopefully, Weiss would be dissuaded of continuing this argument when she saw the results of her labor. Either that or Yang's angry snarl. Yeah, something tells me that Yang would be too entirely winning to kick Ice Queen's ass to the curb if Weiss couldn't take the hint that she wasn't welcome.

In any case, how could Ice Queen not see what she was doing? Ruby is literally hiding from her and she keeps telling me how disrespectful I am for not saying how wonderful she is or agreeing with her on everything.

"Just... Argh! Look, I just came here to tell your friend to be more careful! Her carelessness could and did hurt someone! Namely, me!"

"Did she apologize for it?"

"Wh_"

"Yes or no question. Did she apologize?"

"Yes, but_"

"Also, from my perspective, there was something strange about the events. Did you or did you not start shaking the Dust bottle in front of her face?"

"Th_"

"Really. Let's try this again. Yes or no question. Did you shake a bottle of dust in front of her face? The same bottle that had to have been packaged improperly for it to have released the volatile and dangerous Dust into the air and caused my friend to sneeze? Or perhaps the bottle was damaged, but you decided to forgo properly checking whether or not the Dust could be dangerous before shaking it about?" I said with a glare to hopefully just end this conversation.

It wasn't enough.

"Yes..." she said as she glowered at me. No doubt she had more choice words to state about my attitude but had refrained knowing that I would just interrupt her again.

Why did Weiss have to be so damn stubborn?! Can she just go away? I tried to excuse her on her behalf and tried to give her good reasons why continuing this argument was not something she wanted. What do I have to do? Piss her off to the extent that she just storms off in anger? I could always just let her get to Ruby, but that was just something I could not allow to happen. Ruby was my friend, and I just couldn't abandon her to Weiss's temper.

Guess that really left only one option to chasing off the girl.

"Then I believe you owe my friend an apology for quite a number of things."

"For her blowing me up!"

"Which she has apologized for. But had you simply stored the Dust properly and not shaken it in front of someone's face, you wouldn't have exploded. Or is it my friend's fault to that you can't properly store your Dust? Or is that simply the standard set by the SDC for all of their Dust products? Or perhaps you don't feel any regret for those because you intended for something bad to happen to Ruby? After all, you could have knowing shaken explosive Dust in front of Ruby's face as a means to physically harm her out of some petty need to get back at a girl that had accidentally walked back into your luggage."

"... Are you insinuating that_"

"Look, Ice Queen," I leveled a smoldering glare (how convincing it was, I don't know) before continuing with, "We both know that this conversation is going to just get worse from here on out. Neither you nor I want that. So let's just cut to the chase. Either apologize and walk away or just run along."

"I won't forget this slight," she hissed as she was far too stubborn to just accept that she was in the wrong.

"Run along now," I cheekily repeated.

Without even responding, she turned and strutted away. She only gave a momentary glance back towards us as she drew away as if trying to process the conversation and who I was before carrying on. Or she might have been memorizing my face so that she would remember who was on her shit list. Doesn't matter since I pretty sure that I not only burned the bridge, and Weiss and I would forever be at odds. I could only hope that this wouldn't come to haunt me later in life.

The moment she was out of earshot and lost interest in me, all my earlier bravado finally crumbled. My entire body started to heat up. I could feel everything shake and couldn't help but let out an enormous sigh as I desperately tried to get my heart rate under control. I was failing miserably. I literally argued with the heiress of the biggest and most shady business corporation around. This was my second chance at life. I literally experienced a miracle of miracles and I nearly threw it away on something so trivial.

But at least Ruby didn't have to deal with Weiss.

"You okay there?" Yang asked hesitantly with an interesting glimmer in her eyes.

"Did I just?"

"With Ice Queen? Yep!"

"I'm sorry..."

Looking down, I saw Ruby looking dreary and riddled with guilt.

"You've got nothing to apologize for, Ruby," I tried with as much confidence that I could muster. So basically zilch.

"But that crabby girl got angry at you too! And she even attempted to threaten you!"

"Something tells me that she already hated my guts before all of this," I snorted.

"But you two have never even bet before! She might have been mean to you because you're my friend! And I don't want you to suffer just because of my mistake!"

"Trust me, Ruby. Something tells me that we are the exact opposite of soulmates."

"Soul enemies?"

"Probably nothing so drastic, but yeah."

"So tell me, Jaune. Why did you decide to get into an argument in the first place? You could have just easily sat by and let Weiss ream my sister for like thirty seconds. Certainly would keep you out of the crosshairs," Yang questioned with an expectant look on her as though she were searching for something.

"I... don't know. Aside from the fact that something about the girl rubbed me the wrong way, she just seemed so unreasonably angry at Ruby. I get that Ruby accidentally caused a dust explosion, but Weiss decided to seek her out to yell at her after Ruby apologized and refused to acknowledge that she was partially at fault. It just didn't feel right to just sit back and watch," I carefully mused as my attention drifted back down to the little reaper for a moment before coming back up to meet Yang's eyes.

Looking at Yang, she seemed to like my response.

"You know what? I like you. Something tells me that we are going to be the best of friends here at Beacon," Yang claimed as she quickly caught me in a headlock. Unfortunately for Ruby, who had still been clinging to my side, she was now the meat in this impromptu sandwich.

"Jaune-Jaune!" a quick cry yelled behind as another person decided to join our impromptu group hug.

"Would you look at that. A friend of yours?"

"Yang, Nora. Nora, Yang. Say hi, Ruby! Also, where's Ren?"

"Can't breath!"

"Maybe Mr. Adorkable doesn't do you justice. Maybe Lady Killer or Playboy is a better fit," Yang playfully mused as she proceeded to squeeze ever so slightly harder. Or maybe that was Nora. Can't really tell since both girls are absurdly strong.

"Sis, too tight! Need air!"

"So I see you made some new friends already."

"Come in and join this group hug, Renny!"

With a quick shrug, the boy joined. Most likely to appease the bubbly girl. Thankfully he didn't squeeze, opting to only lay on the wall that Nora was a part of.

"As much as I'm feeling the love here, I think Ruby really needs air. So, can we stop with the hugging for two seconds."

Ren, the ever understanding boy that he was, quickly got off and helped pry off the reluctant Nora.

Yang refused to let go.

"Yang, that means the headlock too."

"Alright, alright, but you know you liked it," the blonde bombshell teased before finally letting go and allowing her sister to finally breath.

I could only blush. Pretty sure any guy my age would love to be sandwiched between such beaut_

Libido, seriously stop.

"Not about whether or not I enjoyed it," I muttered.

Before anyone could start another conversation, the blunt sound of a microphone being tapped echoed through the halls. The sound drew all of our attention to the stage. On it stood the Headmaster and all of Beacon's staff just like before. All these famous Hunters and Huntresses stared at us from above and quickly scanned over us with a critical gaze. The images which I aspired to be were looking over us and wondering who would be worthy.

Hanging on every moment, I listened as the Headmaster drew himself closer to the microphone to once again deliver his message to us all.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge... to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

It was the same speech, word for word. Everything about his speech was exactly the same as the one in my past life. I suppose that's to be expected since I have yet to interact with any of the faculty in any manner and I doubt any of the students have talked to the teachers here yet.

Despite the familiarity of the speech, I couldn't help but be held in awe over it still. It was something simple and very clearly improvised given how the man seemed to search for words in the few sentences that he spoke. It still seemed to speak to my heart as though it were directed at me.

"Initiation will begin tomorrow at ten hundred hours. You will all be sleeping in the main hall for the night. Feel free to explore the campus and use our facilities as you see fit."

Oh right. Initiation... I wonder if I can find a parachute somewhere on campus.

And learn how to fight before I get killed by Grimm a second time.

Probably best to learn how to fight first.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

1) Managed to introduce every one of Jaune's friends up until this point in the show. Ruby is still Ruby. Still deciding if I want Yang to be overprotective or simply a wild card. Weiss is honestly a terrible person for a long while in the show. Wondering if I pushed it too far or if the responses are in line with how Weiss acts during the beginning of the show.

2) Obviously, Jaune acts slightly out of character. This is due to experiencing death and seeing everything for the second time as well as seeing events from different points of view. He will obviously act in a way that he feels will impress his friends the most for now but will obviously show his more normal responses in newer situations.

3) Seriously tell me if some characters seem too out there. Helps me with writing more consistently if I get a better idea of how the characters would/should act in certain scenarios.

4) To people saying that this is just another Groundhog Day Fiction, I ask you, "So what?". Also would like to point out that this fiction is probably more like "The Butterfly Effect" since it is about Jaune altering the course of events to suit his goals (even if he doesn't know his end goals yet) rather than stave off boredom.


	3. Arc Life 2: Ready, Set,

**Arc Life #2: Ready, Set, ...**

 **Beacon-Auditorium**

After the ceremony, I looked amongst our group of friends to see who would be willing (no matter how reluctant) to teach me the basics. I would have asked Nora, but she quickly wrangled Ren and ran towards the kitchen so as to make pancakes. Somehow, Nora running away before I could ask felt as though I dodged a bullet.

Ruby had made for a mad dash for the workshop to see what sort of high-end equipment the shop had to maintain her baby. I was half surprised that she hadn't grabbed me to accompany her, but this was Ruby. As nice of a girl she is, she also seemed like the type to instantly forget the world once something grabs her attention.

"Yo, how about a few rounds in the ring, Mr. Adorkable," Yang called out as she managed to wrangle my head in another headlock.

"Sure," I managed to choke out.

How convenient for me. I got a volunteer as my personal tutor without even having to ask. Though, I'm not too entirely sure that Yang being my (unknowing) teacher was exactly a good thing for me. I may survive this and the encounter with the Grimm during Initiation, but something tells me that I would be begging for the sweet release of death. I would be the only living expert on that since I am a guy who has in fact died.

Also, why was Yang so seemingly interested in sparring with me in the first place? I wasn't exactly built in a manner that would suggest that I could fight. I was both awkwardly lanky in certain areas while others were a bit more developed. Nothing exactly consistent.

"Let's see if we can catch a teacher to tell us where the dueling pits ar_"

"Left door. Follow the corridor until there is an opening to the plaza. The door opposite of it has something that looks like a stage to fight on."

"Why do you know that?"

"An upperclassman told me before."

Yeah, Ruby and I got hopelessly lost last time. We had thought that the giant plaza would have been connected to the auditorium, but no such luck. We had then followed the giant red cross attached to one of the rooms right next to the plaza in hopes that the nurse would be able to redirect us, but with no such luck either. Though to be fair, the nurse was probably getting ready for the assembly (even if only Ozpin spoke for like a minute). We had only made it just in time for the speech because we had heard a loud and rapid stream of gunfire across the infirmary. When we found the source to be the door right across the plaza, we found a girl wearing shades and a beret standing in the middle of an arena with a few robotic parts strewn across the ground. She gave us this weird look before kindly pointing us in the right direction.

In any case, that was before. I hadn't met her this time since I had not gotten lost like last time.

"Wait, I thought you met my sister right off the airship? When did you have the time to talk to an upperclassman? Ruby would have said something about that."

"Just because I came here today doesn't mean that I have never been to Beacon before."

"Tour?"

"Why else would I have been here before."

You know, besides in a previous life.

"Fair point. Well, lead on, Mr. Adorkable."

"Are you ever going stop calling me that?"

"Only when something more appropriate or humiliating comes up," Yang said with a chuckle.

"Something tells me that I know which one you are rooting for," I deadpanned as we both began walking towards our destination.

 **Beacon-Dueling Classroom**

After Yang had gotten the ring set up by sweeping out the leftover debris that was carelessly left by the upperclassman, she got in a ready pose with no obvious weapon drawn. But she was a real Huntress in training, which meant that either it was a hidden weapon or she had enough confidence to handily serve me my own ass. Knowing that she was dangerous, I had settled for a stance quickly. She immediately knew something was wrong. At first, she thought I was screwing around, but she quickly realized that I had no clue what I was doing. Not wanting to risk her ire, I quickly folded on my charade and try to explain my situation as best I could in a manner and a few tweaked details so that she wouldn't cave my skull in and hopefully refrain from turning me into the teachers.

"So let me get this straight, you're basically a civvy trying to become a Huntsman?!" the blonde bombshell worriedly asked/yelled as she tried to wrap her mind around what I told her.

"I did have my Aura unlocked," I sheepishly added.

"Yeah, in the last twenty-four hours! What in the hell were you thinking?! How the hell did you get into Beacon?!"

"Maybe the staff saw something in me that was worth ignoring my obvious inexperience?"

There was no way in hell I was going to tell her that I had forged my transcripts. If she was mad already, I didn't want to push her to actually getting more physically angry. For crying out loud, her being worried already has her lilac eyes flashing red. Literally. Not figuratively, but literally turning red out of rage.

"What could possibly be so amazing that zero experience would be okay?!"

"I have large Aura? Because I'm from a family of heroes?"

It was all I got. I couldn't even say that I was strong for my age given that I had set on this path prior to unlocking my Aura, and I have felt the monumental difference between the two states.

"There is no possible way a large reservoir of Aura could compensate for zero experience," Yang muttered with an unamused expression. She then proceeded to mutter to herself, "Knew that there had to be something," as she stalked up to me... to ominously grip my arm.

"Yang, why are you grabbing my arm?" I asked in fear as she may possibly break my body to prevent me from going through Initiation.

"Checking how big your Aura i... Holy Shit!?"

"Pardon?"

"Jaune, you've only had Aura for a day, right?"

"Yang? What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong per se, but maybe you're onto something with how large your Aura is."

"Really? I was just spitballing. I didn't realize that the amount I had was that special."

"Jaune, you have more than four times the amount of Aura I have!"

"That's a lot?"

"You really don't know? Of course, you don't know. You are a literal noob. The noobiest of noobs you can be."

I intelligently responded with an, "Uh?"

"Newbie. Right. The basic gist is that Aura is the energy produced from our soul that we use to protect and heal our body, activate Dust and our Semblance, and to empower our attacks. So more Aura means you can fight harder and longer. Bigger is better in this case for the most part."

"So I have an absurd amount for a Hunter? Enough to warrant me getting into Beacon?"

"Kind of, you have an absurd amount for my level. You have an astronomically huge amount for your level. But compared to actual Hunters, you're slightly below average."

"But you just said_"

"The amount of Aura you have at your disposal is always increasing. The amount of Aura you can use naturally only increases with time, and/or taking hits. I have a large amount of Aura because I've had my Aura unlocked for a few years and have taken a lot of beatings in my spars as a part of my fighting style and Semblance. My pool of Aura is very large because I constantly put it through the ringer for years. You naturally have a pool that dwarfs mine upon awakening. If I'm in the top five percent of our age group, you don't even register on our scale. That's how goddamn broken your pool is."

"So you're saying that I should be a shoe-in?" I asked confusedly.

I was pretty much one-shotted by the scorpion. I'm pretty sure I sucked that bad. Were the Grimm really that strong to pierce through that much Aura? How in the hell were Hunters expected to beat off the Grimm? A one hit kill is kind of not something to take lightly.

"Haha, no. You still have no clue how to use it properly, but I can at least see why Beacon might have allowed you to even attempt the Initiation."

"So what am I going to do? I don't think I have enough time to learn how to properly fight to get through Initiation," I nervously questioned.

"You're right, we don't have enough time to get you up to standard," Yang said with a nod.

Did she say we? Does that mean that she was going to help me?

"Please tell me that there's a but in that statement," I pleaded hopefully.

"We're going to cram only the things you need to know to pass this test."

"Like what?"

"How to block, parry, dodge, and counter. Specifically Ursas and Beowolves."

"That sounds like a lot to cover in one night. Will it actually be possible?"

"Kind of too late to have second doubts right now," Yang muttered unamusedly.

"True, so where do I start?"

"Get into your fighting stance again, Newbie," Yang sighed. Before flicking her arms to deploy her weapons from the golden bracelets on her arms. Which turned out to be golden gauntlets covering her fists with some sort of firing mechanism given the ominous looking hole dead center on the metal part behind her fists. Good to know that she hadn't got them out the first time. If she had went guns blazing in the first place, I might have been knocked out instantly.

I quickly brought my sword in front of me and turned my sheath into a shield. As I stood there waiting for the next step. Yang gave me a look over again.

"..."

"That bad?"

"Not for long. Spread out your legs a bit more and line your body behind your shield instead of your sword as best you can. Don't hold it to your side or behind you. You're trying to block incoming attacks that you see. No use having it someplace you can't protect properly."

I quickly shifted my stance to fit what Yang described. Looking at her expectantly with hopes that I did as she asked, I awaited her judgment.

"Getting there, but..." she hummed before gently before gently prodding my body at certain parts to try to get them in the right places.

"Newbie, lift only your heels slightly and tuck your sword arm a little bit closer to your body move your shield further out. Right there. Good," before she quickly pushed my shield hard.

"How does that feel?" Yang asked as she kept circling me to see what else she could do.

"I didn't fall."

Yang just gave me an eye-roll for that.

"I meant if it felt natural. You know, not like anything feels jarring as though you're fighting your own body to move. Sword arm doesn't feel like it's holding anything too heavy?"

"I feel good?"

"Good, means your stance is solid enough to at least endure hits. Not that that will do much against the Grimm, but it's a start."

"So the next step?"

"You're going to learn how to jump away and getting back into stance as quickly as you can," Yang confidently stated before throwing a punch that I quickly blocked by hiding behind my shield.

"Let me rephrase that order. Dodge or I'm going to repeatedly smash your shield until your arms breaks," Yang growled before throwing another punch at a much faster speed.

This time I had enough sense to quickly dodge by hopping back, but my stance returned back to what I had before the lesson.

"Do a dodge roll and get back into your fighting stance. Your life depends on you always being ready to fight. So learn to dodge and get ready dammit!"

This went on for quite some time. As I slowly got better at the drill, I felt as though she kept upping how soon she would go at me. Every swing was initiated sooner with each repetition and each swing progressively became faster and harder. It soon became a game where I had best get into my stance or my ribs be punished by a devastating blow, block said blow and attempt to run before it became a massive beatdown on my arm. After an uncountable number of repetitions, she finally relented her assault. A light sheen of sweat starting to appear on her brow. Her body lightly shifting as she started to catch her breath.

"A hundred and thirty-seven."

"What?"

It might have been just the blood rushing through my system, but I had no idea what the number was about. My arm and ribs ached. My blood was pounding in my ears, and I tried to hold in whatever fluid was in my stomach at the moment. I just did not have the mental focus to even think what Yang was even on about right now. I was doing my level best in trying to stop myself from doing another dodge roll.

"It took you a hundred and thirty-seven tries for you to properly dodge a hundred times. Honestly, I'm damn impressed how quickly you picked up the lesson. You sure you've never had any training or is this just some way to get a private hands-on lesson with me," Yang managed to smirk.

So I screwed up thirty-seven times. I died thirty-seven times. Damn it. That's a terrifying thought. Yang was going easy on me, and I still would have died thirty-seven times over. No matter how impressed Yang might sound, I knew that in reality that my best still wasn't good enough even with her help.

"Jaune, this is practice and your fighting someone with years of experience. Believe it or not, you are actually doing really well. Especially since some of those screws ups were you being taken surprise in the beginning and me going a tad bit overboard at times. Plus I didn't exactly give you time to practice your dodging without the threat of me pummeling you," Yang huffed out.

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Did a hell of a lot better than I did my first few times you adorkable idiot. God, you're like a puppy when you look at me like that," she grumbled out as she nervously began scratching her scalp.

"Well, I had a great teacher," I piped up a bit more exuberantly than I hoped I sounded.

"Damn straight, so do you need a break or are you ready to break?" Yang said in a gungho posture over the simple compliment.

"I'm ready for round two," I eagerly yipped.

"I'm going to simulate how a Beowolf will attack you from your shielded side. I want you to use your shield to block my arm and swing your sword to hit my side. During all this, I want you to shift your front foot with your shift as you are redirecting my arm. Got it?"

"Yes?"

"Say it with confidence, Newbie!"

"Yes, Coach!"

"Good, now get ready."

As soon as I got in position, I saw her come swinging at me and I immediately tried to put into motion the movement.

"Too early, you have to time it right! You want the shield to bash where my wrist is. Try again!"

Yang quickly repositioned her arm and swung again. This time, I timed it right, but as I try to turn my body, I toppled over.

"Pivot your back foot. Gives you stability and more power. Again!"

I immediately hopped into my stance as I saw the fist descending already. I quickly parried the arm with shield and swung my blade and smashed it into Yang's side.

"Shit, Jaune! That hurt! Use the flat side!"

"Sorry!" I said horrified. I had hit Yang pretty hard. If she wasn't a Huntress I could have cut her in half with that move.

"Don't! It's okay, Jaune. It's good that your first instinct is to use the blade. Just this is practice, and I can't exactly help you if I have no Aura left. I can handle the flat just fine, but the bladed part is going to drain me pretty quickly. Especially if you go that hard through the whole drill," Yang quickly said.

"But I hurt you!"

"And I'm damn proud you got it right on your third try! I should have been more clear in my instructions. This is training, better to get hurt in the ring then killed out there."

"But_"

"No buts! Now! Again!"

Instinctually, I braced myself to repeat the procedure and successfully countered.

"Again!"

I parried and swung.

"Again!"

I parried and swung.

"Again!"

I parried and swung.

I parried and swung.

I parried and swung.

We repeated this drill again and again in silence. The vocal calls becoming silent as I had to only prepare with visuals cues of the impending attacks. With each and every attempt becoming more refined as I spent less energy in wasted movement in an attempt to keep fighting as my energy started dipping and as my body started aching once more as the muscles that I had not used before began to ache from the repetition. Soon my blade began to swing naturally as though I wasn't hefting a tool, but rather swinging a mere extension into my target.

At one point, I held steady as I saw her arm linger in the air. Never coming down. My eyes focused on it, waiting for it to drop.

"Good, so your not just going through the motions," Yang panted. Her face red from all the blood flowing through her body. Traces of exhaustion starting to make itself apparent.

"How did I do this time, Coach?" I joked as I tried to catch my breath before collapsing on the ground as my muscles finally gave.

"A hundred and twenty-four," Yang said with a beautiful smile.

"That so?"

"Who knows, maybe you'll be a hundred for a hundred by the end of today."

"Not exactly the greatest fighter here," I said as I finally caught my breath and steadily brought my body up despite how sore I felt at the moment.

"Wait a second there buddy! No need to get up until your ready. You have got to pace yourself there."

"You sure it's me you should worry about or yourself. You seem to be panting harder than I am at the moment," I cheekily stated as I finally managed to right myself up.

"Seriously, Jaune. Pace yourself. This isn't exactly easy on your body since you're actually being wailed on. No need to try to impress me. Plus we can't have your body... breaking...?"

"Yang?"

"Jaune, how does your body feel right now?"

"My body? Tired, sore, and..." I started without questioning as I knew Yang was looking out for me. But as I was assessing myself, I noticed that despite my exhaustion and the amount of exercise I was going through my body was rapidly feeling better. Yeah, I was still exhausted, but the aches and pains were rapidly disappearing. Looking at my body, I saw the slightest glimmer sparking on and off.

"I feel good, but exhausted... no just a bit out of breath?"

"Let me check your Aura for now."

I extended my arm so that she could get a good grasp.

"You have about three-fourths of your Aura left and it's steadily decreasing. Guess your body is desperately trying to compensate its lack of conditioning by using your Aura to heal itself. Yeah, not going to lie. You're going to be a monster of a Hunter by the time you leave Beacon," Yang whistled as she appraised my condition.

"I guess Ozpin and the staff weren't wrong about me then."

"Surprised that you were allowed to be a newbie for so long if your Aura was this responsive. This must be something hereditary. It's too absurdly broken to be anything other than luck on top of your lineage. Honestly, if you had been trained like the rest of us or at least like how I'm training you... Well, you definitely going to make waves at this pace. Wonder when your growth will slow down."

"So, what now?"

"Well considering you still have a lot left in you, we're going to keep going until your either learned everything for tomorrow or until I turn you into a smear on the ground after grinding all of the techniques into your body. So, Newbie! Brace yourself!" Yang stated as she got into another stance to attack me with and another lesson on her lips.

"Round three?"

 **Beacon-Cafeteria**

Five hours of nonstop training. Yang and I couldn't even stand under our own volition anymore. We both had to half carry each other as we limped and hobbled our way to the cafeteria. Somewhere near the end of our training session, Yang's Aura finally dropped to the red zone. Almost none of that Aura lost was used to heal her body, unlike mine (a given since my Aura was also trying to make my body into one of a Huntsman due to the liberal training on my lacking body). My Aura dipped well into the red zone, not that it really meant anything to me given that the zones were determined by percentages rather than raw amount. Just meant that me running low was enough to keep others going for quite a bit.

Though my Aura suspiciously stopped healing my body as quickly and my attacks became much weaker the moment it dipped in the red. It seemed to be the same for Yang, at least in terms of how hard she could hit and how quickly she could do so. Perhaps the benefits of Aura was limited by the general amount and need. I had much more left compared to Yang, but I still was in just as bad of a shape as Yang. Does that also mean that my rate of recovery would suffer? Would Yang jump up more quickly since she could get more Aura back in terms of percents despite my massive Aura pool giving me the edge in terms of the start of a fight? So much of my Aura had been dedicated to preventing my body from giving out and it was still like this.

"Yang?"

"Yeah, Newbie?"

"Never again," I groaned as we finally collapsed on a table to wait for Ruby and the others to grab us a light dinner for Yang and a loaded meal for me after we had messaged them.

"Suck it up, Newbie. I've enlisted the others' help for the next part of your training," she said with a smile despite how exhausted she was.

"There's more!" I nearly cried.

"Last part. Trust me."

"I can barely move."

"Tough shit, last part is going to involve a lot of movement... well, either that or a lot of pain."

"Are we going to be able to fight during Initiation at this rate?"

"Me? A good night's rest is all I need. You and your monster Aura will be fine. You might not be fighting with all of your Aura, but you'll definitely survive long enough to pass Initiation if you finish the last part of your training."

"... Thank you, Yang. Truly. You don't know how much you training me means to me."

"Hey don't go getting soft on me now. Thank me after you pass."

"Yeah, after we pass," I said with confidence.

"So have you thought about who you wanted as your partner here at Beacon," Yang asked to simply keep the conversation going.

That's right. Partners were an integral part of being a Hunter. Hadn't really thought about it since I was desperately getting ready for my second Initiation. Wonder how Pyrrha is doing right now. I haven't seen her at all this time, but then again, even when I was exploring in my first life, I only met her right before our test. I doubt we were going to be partners again since the method of matching just seemed too random. The only reason we had gotten partnered in the first place was that Pyrrha saved my ass from becoming a smear on the ground. There was no guarantee that that was going to happen a second time.

"Definitely not Weiss," I said with a light chuckle.

"Oh yeah! I feel sorry for the poor unfortunate soul that gets partnered with Ice Queen."

"Can you imagine if she got partnered with either Ruby or me?" I cringed as I tried to imagine how that would have turned out.

"Yeah, what do you think her deal is?"

"Not really interested. Do you really need to know someone's deal if they're trying to make your life miserable?"

"Very true. Guess that's like trying to ask why someone is trying to stab you. Doesn't really matter since I'd rather not get stab_"

"Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is occupied," a familiar voice chimed in politely despite interrupting the conversation.

Looking up, I saw my first partner with a tray in her arms with a slightly nervous look on her face.

"Sure," I automatically responded as I pathetically tried to flop myself a bit closer to Yang to make room.

"Are you okay?"

"He's just playing a bit of catchup. He'll be fine after some food, or else. Right, Newbie?" Yang said as she threw a punch into her other hand. What was supposed to come off as something inspirational or threatening just came off as a sad unenergetic flop.

"Newbie?"

"Name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies like it."

I give up. I suck at introducing myself.

"Seriously, Newbie? You still have the energy to flirt with a lame line like that again?" Yang groaned.

"I'd like to note that it's because I'm so exhausted that I said that," I said more into the table than to anyone in particular.

"My name's Pyrrha," the redhead chuckled at our antics.

"I know. I'm wearing your hoodie."

This lead to an uncomfortable pause in the conversation. Pyrrha was blushing up a storm but briefly scanned my hoodie as though she was trying to pinpoint what I had meant by that. Yang, for the briefest moment, could only give me an incredulous stare as though she could not believe what she just heard. What was so weird about what I just said? The hoodie I was wearing was...

Oh...

The realization came like a ton of bricks on my head.

"You have no idea how creepy that sounds right now, Newbie," Yang finally managed to spit out as the shock worked itself out of her system.

"Pumpkin Pete's. Fifty box tops."

"You ate fifty of those things?! How_"

"Seven sisters. Not that hard."

"You_"

"Yes. And before you say anything; Bad Yang!"

"I wasn't_ Wait, you said that you were wearing her hoodie right now!? Are you telling me that if we took that armor off right now that_"

"No! It's just the rabbit logo from Pumpkin Pete's!" I yelped over the insinuation.

God, I feel mortified right now.

"Pyrrha, quick! Help me strip him!"

I made the token effort of trying to get away. All it could manage was a light fidget as my body refused to move. Not like Yang was actu_

"Oh my god, Yang. Please have mercy."

"That wasn't me," Yang denied with a hint of awe in her voice as though she couldn't believe what was going on.

"Pyrrha?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You don't sound sorry."

"I was curious," she laughed heartily.

"Oh fine, just give me a sec to get this armor off."

I slowly traced my fingers to where the latches were and began to unbuckle them. An endeavor as my fingers kept fumbling since I couldn't see where they were going.

Yang gave a half-hearted, "Strip! Strip! Strip!"

"Really, Yang? You really have the energy?"

There goes the last latch.

"Oh my god! It's a cute little bunny rabbit!" an exuberant voice called belonging to one Ruby Rose who apparently had just arrived with several plates of food on her tray.

"Yes, Ruby. It's a cute little bunny rabbit. Also, say hi to your fellow redhead," I said quickly to distract the little reaper as I quickly began to grab plates to stuff myself with.

"Hi, I'm Ruby."

"Pyrrha."

"Nora!"

"Nora?" Pyrrha asked after having Nora pop up from behind her.

"Yes!"

"Hello?"

"Hi!"

"That's a lot of pancakes?"

"Don't ask. It's just Nora being Nora. My name's Li Ren by the way."

"Pyrrha."

"So the gang's all here? " I joked.

"Depends. Does your soulnemesis count?"

"Did you really go there?"

"Soulnemesis?"

"Turns out Newbie and Weiss Schnee get along like water and oil. Both were at each other's throats the exact moment they saw each other."

"Oh my, I'm sure that just an exaggeration."

"The sad part is Yang, for once, wasn't putting it mildly. That's pretty much exactly how our first meeting went."

"Better than mine! At least you didn't actually explode!"

"She sounds rather... volatile. Should I avoid her?"

"Uh... probably not the best group around to give you advice about that. We've probably only seen the bad sides of her," I quarter-heartedly attempted to allow Pyrrha to give Weiss a chance. My heart wasn't in it, but I'm sure that if anyone could get along with Weiss, it would be Pyrrha. Just because my experience was soured didn't necessarily mean that Pyrrha couldn't get along with Weiss.

"Newbie, I can't tell if you are being cruel by encouraging poor Pyrrha into meeting your soulnemesis or being overly nice by encouraging poor Pyrrha into meeting your soulnemesis."

"Hey, just because she's my 'soulnemesis' doesn't mean she's everyone else's."

"Who has she not made an enemy of in our little group?"

"...Ren?"

"Sorry, Jaune-Jaune. If she's your soulnemesis then she's my enemy as well. Renny is on my side, therefore, Weiss is his enemy as well."

"Right... Pyrrha, as I said before, we aren't exactly unbiased in our opinion of Weiss. You should go meet her yourself and decide if you want to be her friend or not," I tried one last time for the mere sake of being polite.

"Perhaps I will if the two of us cross paths," Pyrrha diplomatically stated.

I nodded since that was the best I was going to get from the group, and already more effort than I was originally going to give to Weiss.

"So, how was everyone's first day here at Beacon?" Pyrrha broached, likely as a means to see more of our personalities given how she was the newest member of our little group.

"Great! Renny and I spent the whole day together, but you know, not together-together because that would be weird," Nora exclaimed first with Ren merely nodding his head as she hung off of him.

"I got to see the forge here. I can't wait to be able to use everything there to make my baby even better!" Ruby gushed as she affectionately hugged Crescent Rose.

"Newbie and I were getting up close and personal for the last five hours. The guy can just keep going and going at it. A real monster of a man here," Yang supplied with a slap on my back.

"Ow."

"You beat up, Jaune!? Yang! Why?" Ruby asked, not at all misconstruing what Yang had said.

"He actually jumped up at the chance."

"And he's still standing!?" Ruby asked with an extremely surprised look, and a look of respect if the glance I saw her give me was of any indication.

"Standing is a strong word, Ruby. More like hobbled. Besides, what's so impressive with walking out of a spar?" I said with a slump.

"Jaune, Yang is like the best fighter I know! Even fully trained Hunters and Huntresses have difficulty standing on equal ground with her! I've seen her knock out opponents with one good combo! You fighting her for five hours is like... headbutting a train or something."

"Considering we weren't sparring so much as her drilling the basics into my body with her trains that she calls fist, I think that's probably why I survived."

"You took her punches?! As in you willing let her slam her fists into your ribs and other fleshy body parts?! And you're not in the hospital?!"

I would have pointed out that Ruby's description was a bit far-fetched until I remembered that the only reason nothing was broken was that I had enough Aura to just chug along.

"Hey! Give me some credit, Rubes. I was training him. I wasn't using your friend as a glorified punching bag," which was cut off as Ruby gave the blankest stare at Yang that screamed that she was onto Yang's plot.

Yang guiltily added, "Of course, I held back my punches. He even gave me a lot of good wallops back as well," which Yang accentuated with a grimaced expression and subtle gesture towards her ribs as she tenderly rubbed her side.

So she did call me out for a specific reason. Oh god! She was holding back. I suspected, but I still felt inadequate knowing how hard she could hit when she was training me. Had I been the least bit competent, she was entirely willing to kick my ass. But why?! What had I done to warrant such a treatment?

"Wait, and you want us all to help Jaune train! You're going back for more!"

"More like dragged back, but that's the gist of it."

"Is there a reason as to why you seem to wan-need so much training?" Ren asked calmly as a look of sudden comprehension graced his face. He probably some inkling of what my circumstances were given he saw me breakdown before. He likely came to the correct conclusion, but not for why I broke down.

"Kind of a last minute walk on here," I sheepishly supplied.

"Last minute?"

"Only had my Aura unlocked for a day," I simply stated.

"How did_"

"As I said, he's a monster. He is the definition of quantity over quality when it comes to his Aura. He has a ridiculous amount of Aura and it seems that a lot of things with it come quickly to instinctively for him. Not that he really knows how to use it properly given a lot of the excess just bleeds off, but it does come to work with his movements rather than against. Plus it seems to try to heal him as quickly as possible, though that might just be because he has so much of it and his lack of conscious control has it leeching into everything he does naturally."

"So he's actually a 'newbie'? A civilian? Not just some nickname?" Pyrrha questioned with a hint of worry as it dawned on her that I was as inexperienced as physically possible. By all rights, I would (did) die tomorrow due to my naivety.

"Yep! Can't beat another student any time soon, but will definitely be good enough to take on an army of Grimm after tonight! I mean, who needs finesse against the Grimm when you can just go swish-swish stab-stab at the moment it can't dodge."

"But how? It takes years of honing one's senses and forms to even have the basics mastered to a usable level."

"Not if you effectively bash the forms into their body. Especially one that can get right back up and ask for more," Yang smirked as she deployed both her gauntlets.

"Yeah, a really memorable lesson if painful," I grimaced as I recalled the few times my guard wasn't up to snuff. Never again if I can help it.

"Oh don't be like that, Newbie. You actually picked up on the forms really well. You managed to succeed like eighty-five percent of the time."

"How many times did he screw up?"

"Only like a hundred and fifty times out of the thousand-ish repetitions."

"How are you not dead?"

"Aura, Ruby. That's the only explanation I can come up with."

"And he still has enough in the tank for Round Ten after dinner."

"I think I'm going to be sick," I said as a haunted look dawned on my face and my body instinctively curled on itself as the terrifying of the prospect of our after dinner workout became more and more of a foregone conclusion.

"But why do you need all of us to help? Wouldn't having too many teachers at once be a detriment to his ability to learn?" Ren the ever observant one asked.

"It's not so much as teaching I need help with so much as it is getting him used to fighting a large number of Grimm back to back. I taught him the basics, but I can't exactly make him accustomed to fighting a small horde if I come at him by myself. I just need a bunch of people to bum rush him with a specific attack so that he can get used to keeping an eye on his surroundings and getting him to smoothly chain his techniques. If he can do that consistently, he'll last long enough for one of us to find him. And if the worst should come to happen and we can't find him, I'm sure he'll manage to fight and run his way through the Ursas and Beowolves to the finish line."

"Yang, that is the most thought out plan I have ever heard come out from you. Who are you and what have you done with my sister?"

"Come on sis_"

"Yang, you went looking for information and that somehow led up to you blowing up a club last week," Ruby deadpanned.

"Name another_"

"You set one on fire that last time you planned a girl's night out."

Looking at Yang, I could see her usually confident persona fracture as a blush ran through her face.

"Just to be clear, I'm never going clubbing with you."

"Oh shut it, Newbie. You and I are definitely going to go set the town ablaze after Initiation."

"I'd rather not become a wanted pyromaniac like you, thank you very much. Take Pyrrha with you, I'm sure she would love to go on a girl's night out with you."

"How about it, Champ? Interested in ditching these dorks for a night of debauchery?"

"That sounds quite grand," Pyrrha earnestly stated.

Huh, I did not expect that considering how polite and quiet she is. Can't judge a book by its cover I guess. Note to self, take Pyrrha out to a club at some point. Maybe I can show her some of my dance moves.

"Oh my! It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Nikos!"

"And that's my cue to go," I said as I quickly got up, picked up my armor and departed for the door. The dinner and time spent talking being more than enough for my body to recover enough. I was not going to interact with Weiss at all if possible. If she managed to make friends with Pyrhha, then good on her. But that certainly was going to be impossible if Ruby, Yang, Nora and I were there. Too many factors to blow up, and I really rather not get in the way of any honest attempt of friendship. Even if Weiss couldn't appreciate my gesture with her very quiet, "Rude."

"You know you might have swayed Pyrrha's opinion of the girl, right," Ren asked as he quickly caught up to me.

"Would it be any worse if Pyrrha saw us try to rip into each other?"

"I suppose not, but you could have left with a tad bit more tact. If you were trying to give a Weiss a chance, you didn't exactly give her a good opportunity to impress Pyrrha."

"Yeah, there was probably a better way. I just... I guess dealing with her just started bringing out an ugly side of me," I replied guiltily.

"It happens. Sometimes some people just bring out the worst in us. At least you were well-meaning enough in your intentions to leave," Ren said as he patted my shoulder.

"I suppose. But I still feel kind of bad for putting her in a bad position despite how she treats me."

"Then simply be better. If you feel bad then make the conscious decision to be better."

"You have an answer for just about everything, don't you Ren?"

"Not everything. Just the ones that matter."

"Thanks."

"No problem. So ready for some training?"

Ren flicked his sleeves, which shot out two green weapons that he held quite ominously as he looked at me.

I could only whimper, which earned a laugh.

* * *

 **Beacon-Main Hall**

"My everything hurts."

I was lying face down on my sleeping bag. I couldn't move and hadn't bothered to get into my onesie. The last training session was brutal. While I think I did well, the punishment for making a single mistake was pretty devastating (especially when the others would start dogpiling if I faltered). As much as I was thankful that everyone chipped in to help, would it have been that bad for them to hold back? Nora and her Magnhild were no joke. I could barely dodge Ruby's dashes. Yang just got progressively more aggressive with each attack. And Ren just kept popping up out of nowhere.

I'm just so glad that Pyrrha didn't join in. She would have likely wiped me out from the get-go by accident.

Also glad that Weiss didn't even know about the training. She would have likely wiped me out from the get-go on purpose.

"You'll be fine, Newbie. Aura works wonder on the body," Yang gently said as she patted my back.

"Did we overdo it, Yang?"

"Is he still alive, Rubes?"

"Ugh... the pain..." I pathetically groaned.

"Pain means that he's still kicking, therefore we did not overdo it."

"Jaune-Jaune is just fine. A fellow sloth warrior will never go down so easily."

"Kill me..."

"Come on give me a sloth warcry!"

"Boop..."

"You can do better than that!"

"Boop... mother fucker..." I lifelessly deadpanned.

"That's the spirit!"

"Aren't you going to change into something more comfortable?"

"No."

"Embarrassed about your pj's?" Ruby asked with a less than an innocent glimmer in her eyes.

"No," which prompted Ruby to quickly dive into my bag.

"Oh my god! It's a onesie... and it has rabbit ears!" Ruby hollered as she fished it out of my bag.

"My sister made it, and don't knock it until you try it. It's actually very comfortable," I gave a muffled grumble.

"I'm calling you Mr. Buns from now on!"

"Didn't realize you were staring at_"

"Yang!" Ruby hollered horrified while I groaned in increasing discomfort.

"Quiet! You're causing a ruckus!" a familiar shriek rang out.

"Not you again!" both Ruby and I exclaimed before sleep mercifully swept me from this current nightmare.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

1) No Blake as of yet since there is no need for the cast to interact with her yet.

2) Aura is also a completely ridiculous thing since allows normal human beings to take on ridiculous attacks, unleash devastating blows and seemingly heals the majority of wounds in the show with only a few notable exceptions. The fact that Jaune is specifically noted to have a large pool is largely swept under the rug since he has been relegated to more of a side character given the nature of the show (especially when he basically is told he's a priest/support rather than a knight).

3) Jaune is a ridiculously quick learner in canon. He essentially became a somewhat competent fighter in the span of 3/4 (1/2 if you remove all the times where he becomes Cardin's lackey or is too stubborn to accept help) of a year when it took every other student years to achieve what he has. He also notably increases in skill when people encourage him (Pyrrha) compared to being berated (Goodwitch). Though this could be more due to an age factor and a smidge of desperation.

4) As for pairings, I make them as I go.


	4. Arc Life 2: Start!

**Arc Life #2: Start!**

 **Beacon-Main Hall**

I woke up with a start as I was heard sniggers near me. If there was any benefit from living with seven sisters, it was that you quickly became a light sleeper. Gods know what kind of shenanigans they could get up to if you were caught unawares. Humiliation being the go-to source of entertainment. Startling pain being the second if the younger ones got the duty of jumping you. Occasionally the older ones would just use a bucket of cold water with the excuse of also washing the sheets.

I quickly rolled to the side and scrambled to my feet to see what nonsense was afoot. My eyes were greeted with a disappointed Ruby holding what looked to be... rabbit ears. Her sister was slightly off to the side with her scroll out with a vaguely disappointed look.

"Morning?" I asked more than stated.

"Ah... You woke up," Ruby pouted with big puppy dog eyes.

Nope, Ruby. I have several sisters that have been using that on me for years. I am emotionally immune to such a tactic. Gods only know how much my sisters used it to 'convince' me to give my ice cream to them.

 _Stare_

Nope!

 _Stare_

Nope.

 _Stare_

With a sigh, I gently took the damn ears and put it on my head. At least Ruby will get some entertainment for such a little thing. Not like it's that embarrassing anyways. Wouldn't make any good blackmail material. What could Yang or Ruby even do with it?

"Oh my god! It goes perfectly with your hoodie! I dub thee Mr. Buns... again!" Ruby squealed happily.

I regret nothing.

"Where'd you even get the ears, Ruby?"

"Nora," Ruby chirped.

"Why does... Nope. Not going to ask. It's Nora just being Nora."

I saw Yang give me a leer as her mind immediately went into the gutter.

"You know that they're not together-together, right?"

I made sure to emphasize the phrase with air quotes. I don't need Yang to think I'm that clueless. Knowing her, she would immediately go back to calling me Mr. Adorkable. Being a Newbie was a step up in my book.

"It's just a matter of how **together-together** they are. So how much do you want to bet that they are into some pretty...," Yang paused before quickly glancing at Ruby and continuing with, "interesting... costumes."

Nice save, I thought sarcastically.

"A thousand lien that this is actually a headpiece for a disguise on the off chance that Nora or Ren has to infiltrate a Faunus group," I flippantly added.

It's only a thousand lien for some mild entertainment. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Yang had the wrong idea. Something about Ren tells me that despite how close they are, they have not made that next step. Plus, I think Nora is more the type to profess her undying love if she and Ren ever did hook up. Since it obviously isn't for sex, the next most logical thing would be that the ears were a disguise. At least normal from what I gathered about Nora.

"No takebacks, Newbie," Yang cackled thinking that I made a sucker's bet.

"Where are Nora and Ren anyways?" I asked as I scanned the room without either of the two in sight. I presumed that Ruby had asked for the ears nicely this morning and wasn't going through other peoples bags... at least others besides my own from last night.

"Pancakes," Ruby piped up as though it explained everything.

Sadly it did.

"And Pyrrha? I didn't see her last night."

"You do realize that you fainted pretty early on, Newbie."

"Passed out. There's a difference."

"Such as?" Yang asked while crossing her arms.

"Fainting implies that I lost consciousness due to emotional stress. Passing out is something that happens from exhaustion."

"You sure it wasn't because your soulnemesis showed up? I distinctly remember you losing consciousness after she appeared."

"And how could you possibly know that?"

"You didn't get into an argument with her immediately. In fact, you actually said 'blarg' after groaning about her coming up to us."

"So where is Pyrrha anyways?" I _smoothly_ transitioned.

Yang just smirked as she knew that I had no counter-argument, but mercifully stated, "I'm not sure. I'd assume getting ready for Initiation. She wasn't around when we woke up."

"Initiation, right. What time is it?"

"About nine. Plenty of time to eat. How's your body feeling and how's your Aura, Newbie?"

Flexing my arms and doing some basic movements, my body felt good. Better than ever. Aura really did wonders. As for my Aura, I could still feel the edges of fatigue lingering. I guess I hadn't refilled my reserves completely.

"Pretty good, though my Aura's still lacking a bit. Don't know how much, but I think I should be fine."

Suddenly, I felt something was wrong. I quickly did a dodge roll without thinking and got in a stance before blinking and realizing that I was not carrying my weapons. Where I was standing originally, I saw Yang had her fist hovering in front of the spot with a smirk on her face.

"Good to see that we drilled those lessons real deep into you."

"I should be a bit mad that you just tried to sucker punch me," I said with a very unamused tone, but still on edge since another lesson was to never let my guard down until I knew there was no threat to my personal being.

"Probably, but now Rubes and I know that you aren't just going to get mauled by a Beowulf or Ursa now," Yang said smugly, but in the corner of her eyes and shoulders, I could see them become less tense. Ruby, was far more open in her relief by the sudden outburst in exuberance.

"Well now that we know that I won't become Grimm chow, how about we get some breakfast while we can," I sighed as I couldn't fault the sisters. I was still worried about myself.

"Make sure you eat light. Don't want you cramping up at the worst moment."

"Gotcha, Coach."

* * *

 **Beacon-Cliffs**

From our group alone, only Ruby, Yang and I were at the cliffs currently since Nora was still packing down more pancakes with Ren to accompany her. We didn't manage to find Pyrrha and she wasn't at the cliffs either. Weiss... I don't even really care where she is at the moment since she was not here to bring my mood down.

The only notable thing was that the cliffs had a few other students milling about and the edge had lines of platforms. They were launchpads so to speak but looked innocuous in that it didn't seem to hide any launching mechanism. I still have yet to develop a landing strategy for that part of Initiation, but since I have Aura, I figured that I could just try to land on my shield and harden my Aura. I would take a hit, but it was the best that I could come up with this time. Better then flailing helplessly and waiting to go splat.

I mean, what're the chances that Pyrrha was going to save me again?

Though I have made a better impression on Ruby and Yang, and have a group of friends this time.

"I can't believe you won that bet!" Yang childishly pouted as we waited around the cliffs.

Casually making a show of pocketing my winnings, I merely chuckled out, "I actually thought it was quite obvious."

"Nora probably was just agreeing with you because you're sloth buddies."

"That would imply that she can read minds, or that I knew you and Ruby were going to put those bunny ears on me this morning, or that I set up an elaborate and diabolical plan with Nora to rob you of a hundred lien before I met you."

"I knew it!"

"Ruby, has your sister always been such a sore loser?"

"This is nothing. You should see Yang playing Remnant. She actually called a blood feud with Uncle Qrow."

"Over losing at a board game?"

"Over getting an unlucky roll."

"You sure that she's the older one?" I joked.

"Hey!"

"She doesn't drink her milk."

"Do you?" I added playfully.

"Duh, what else are you going to drink with a warm plate of cookies," she responded cutely, which just prompted me to pet her head. She was just too adorable.

"Attention, students. Please line up on the platforms," a stern voice called out, which also happened to cut off Ruby before she could complain.

Without much noise, Ruby Yang and I stepped on adjacent platforms that were closest to us. Me in hopes that being on platforms near each other would give me the chance to group with them quickly. Them in hopes that the team selection process rewarded those who stuck to each other.

Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch stood in front of us, patiently waiting for all of the students to fill the empty spots. After a few minutes of herding stragglers, Ozpin took a loud sip from his mug.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin started before Professor Goodwitch continued.

"Now, I'm sure that many of you have heard the rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... Today."

This drew a few noises of complaints, no doubt since many had already formed prospective groups. Without looking, I could tell Ruby and Nora were part of the group that had voiced their concerns.

After a moment to allow the grievances to float about, Ozpin continued.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to find someone with whom you can work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. After you've partnered up, make your way up to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your Initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions."

Not from me this time. The man was unlikely to answer me just as before. He was rather f_

"Yes, Ms. Rose," he calmly stated while sipping from his mug again.

Dick.

"Can we claim our partners before landing?"

"No. No, you may not. However... if you have someone specific in mind and desire to be in the same group so badly, feel free to try to stack the odds in your favor. Some usually try to intercept their intended mid-flight, and others try to hide in the shadows before finding them. Though in your case, you might be able to go a step further, Ms. Rose," he said smugly with an all-knowing curl on his lips as he just likely threw everyone through a loop with that statement. His colleague stiffened. Apparently, she did not approve of such blatant attempts to circumvent the Initiation process for students, more so since the Headmaster seemed to be encouraging such actions. She seemed to be a stickler for the rules, and I don't imagine that only allowing the youngest initiate such an opportunity to bend the rules in a unique manner was something she found amusing.

"Jaune?" Ruby whispered.

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"You don't have a landing strategy. Do you?"

"Nope."

"Thought so," Ruby said before quickly stepping on my little platform and held herself against me.

"Thanks."

"You know we're going to have to teach you how to do one on your own, right?"

"That's_" I never finished as the launchpad decided to activate at that moment.

* * *

 **Emerald Forest**

"I guess this makes us partners," I coughed as I was laying on top of a bush under a tree that Ruby was stuck in. Her hood caught on a branch with Crescent Rose stuck in the trunk just out of reach of her arm.

"Yeah," Ruby weakly groaned above.

The landing strategy was a mini-disaster. Aside from our less than graceful launch, we managed to smash into a crow midair, her scythe didn't have enough firepower to change our flight pattern or slow our descent so much as make us more imbalanced, and a whole slew of other things that could go wrong went wrong. The result of our impromptu falling being us unceremoniously crashing through the forest top.

But at least we're partners.

"Need some help unhooking yourself_" the branch broke and she landed on top of me. She was unsurprisingly light, but the fall still took the wind out of me.

"Ow," she lightly groaned.

"Come on and get up, Ruby. I dare not think what your sister mi_"

"Oh, how precious. Rubes literally falling for Newbie," Yang cooed.

"Yang!" Ruby blushed, though she had not risen from her spot.

"Not to be a downer, but how did you find us so quickly?"

"Well... when I saw you two tumbleweeding in the air, I got a bit worried and flew myself to where I thought you two landed."

"Flying?"

"Part of a landing strategy. I use Ember Celica's shotgun function as a way to control the direction I fall and slow down or accelerate as necessary. Ruby normally uses her high impact sniper and her lightweight to do the same. In a forest, she can also use the bladed part to cut a path or to swing around a tree trunk."

"Then I'm assuming that you haven't found a partner yet."

"Actually, someone else seemed to have found your tumbling quite concerning," Yang said as she gestured to a familiar boy.

"I can see that flight simply doesn't agree with you," Ren quietly chuckled.

"As graceful as a turkey. Surprised that Nora didn't try to grenade jump her way to you in the air," I jested, before asking curiously.

"Too far. There weren't any adjacent launchpads, so I don't think_"

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" a girl in the air hollered out in the air as the sounds of explosions trailed behind her and leaving pink dust clouds.

"Nora?!" Ren asked with a surprised look. That was the most emotion I have ever seen on his face, and also he was surprised?

"BOOOOOP!" I grinned.

"Jaune-Jaune! Renny! Please tell me that you don't have a partner yet!"

"Uh..." Yang intelligently added.

"Oh..." Nora said as the energy left her. Did she visibly start greying out?

"... You do realize Beacon are teams of four right?" I hesitantly added since I did not want to see any tension building in our group of friends.

"But Jaune-Jaune, partners!"

"Only means as much as you make of it. Just because Yang and Ren are partners doesn't force them to be joined at the hips. It certainly wouldn't make Ruby and Yang less likely to hang together," I tried to scrap together an argument as I tried to figure out to inject some energy back into Nora. Her being anything less than joyful just felt wrong. It was all that I ever saw coming from her. While mildly exhausting to deal with, it wasn't a bad thing. It was actually a nice thing to have our personal little ball of sunshine. Unfair to her by forcing her to hold a smile at all times, possibly. But, I and probably Ren will be damned if we just allow it to fall.

"He's right you know. We'll always be together regardless of team placement of partner status," Ren helpfully added.

"Awww! Renny!"

"So, did anyone manage to find Pyrrha on their way over here?"

"Guys?"

"Pretty sure I saw Weiss intercept her mid-flight. Used some sort of white circles to run and leap in the air," Ren finally added with a bit of hesitance.

So Weiss got Pyrrha. Somehow, a little bit of me twinged at the thought. Pyrrha was my original partner, and a strange part of me wanted that to remain despite all my talk about how teams and partners wouldn't get in the way of friendships. But with Weiss being Pyrrha's partner and the Ice' Queen's history with Ruby and me...

I wouldn't want to make things awkward for Pyrrha.

"I see..."

"Really wanted Champ for a partner that much, Newbie? You wound me so! To think that my sister and I were trying so desperately pining for your attention! After all the time we spent that night in the throes of passion!" Yang said with a false hurt in her voice.

"If only it happened how you made it sound, Yang," I deadpanned.

"Oh? Something you like," she coyishly added while bunching up her chest.

I could only blush and stammer.

"So the Relics. Where be that temple?"

"He said in the northern end, and the sun is there... so... that way," Ren answered before Yang could tease me more.

"Formations?" I posited.

"Formations?" everyone asked confusedly.

"You know, arrangements of teams? Make the group more effective?"

"Uh..." they all intelligently added.

"Were you all planning to walk in a straight line? Didn't they teach you how to stay on guard even when just walking at Signal? Ren, Nora... you've got to have come up with some team attacks before. You know..." I asked wondering what was going on, and all I received were blank stares.

"It was covered at Signal, but Dad and Uncle Qrow focused more on making us individually strong first before worrying about others," Ruby helpfully added.

"It's not like we need tactics to take on the Grimm. You know what with them being mindless, Newbie. I can kind of one-shot a lot of the Grimm here."

Right, forgot about the power gap here for a second. Still thinking as though we had no Aura. They have been killing Grimm for a while now and must not see them as much of a threat anymore. That made sense, I guess. Still, weren't they worried at all?

Ren noticing my dilemma, gently asked, "Is there any particular reason why you want to take time to make formations? Remember that doing so would take time, and I think we would all like to get through this test as quickly as possible."

"Never hurts to have an idea of what to do ahead of time so that we won't get in each other's way. You know, something we try first to reduce the chances of us getting hurt by accident," I half-heartedly stated.

"Well, what do you have in mind, Jaune-Jaune?" Nora asked inquisitively, most likely to humor me.

"Well, I have no long-range option and have a shield. I should be in front despite my lack of experience. Ren seems to be more aware of his surroundings. He should be in the rear despite his weapon being more melee oriented to prevent any Grimm from sneaking up on us. Ruby also usually holds her scythe with the tip pointed to her left so she should be on the right to minimize the risk of her accidentally dicing us in the heat of battle. Plus she is fast so she can dash to the enemy quickly if necessary, but only enemies from the front. Yang has short range weapons only so should take the left side and mainly focus on aiding Ren in the rear if he detects any enemies trying to get the jump on us. Nora, as much as I figure she likes to fight, needs to help me finish off the Grimm. Since I primarily am a distraction by being defensive, Nora and her hammer would be best used to cracking skulls. There... Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Newbie, you sure you're actually a noob?"

"What do you mean? This seemed kind of obvious to do."

"You notice some things that most people don't think about. You've only known us for a day and yet you have already developed a strategy to effectively utilize our abilities in relation to each other," Ren added.

"Yeah, like what Ren said. You remembered how I hold my scythe after one training session! Something my Uncle complains that I do from time to time."

"You mean like how I have a shield on one arm and a sword in the other?"

"Not like that! You don't get a choice in which arm once you start fighting! I have a choice to switch my stance mid-fight, but I don't normally because it's a habit! You already know me enough to see that! You're already seeing things like my Uncle Qrow! Like a real Hunter!"

"Is it really?"

"Newbie, we were trained to the utmost of our abilities to fight in desperate situations. In this case, that means very little training with others by our side. Thinking how to fight with others is not the first thing that pops in our minds. I've known Rubes my entire life and the most strategy we ever had in relation to fighting was me tanking hits and battering an enemies legs until Ruby to tells me to dodge when she comes barreling in with a cyclone of death," Yang whistled with an oddly proud look in her eyes.

"Nora and I do something similar with me peppering an enemy as a distraction until Nora can land a killing blow. The thing is, we have been together and know each other well enough to have faith that these moves will work. It is most impressive that you are trying to account for a group of five you've only met for a day against an unknown number of enemies, and there is a logical reason why your place us where we are."

"I see..." I said as something started welling inside me.

"Yeah, Fearless Leader! Though if you know me so well, why can't you just let me take the front position or one of the sides!?"

"Because I don't have enough confidence to kill the Grimm consistently. Perhaps if it turns out that they reliably die to Crocea Mors, we can have you switch with Yang's position since she would be best at defending the formation if a threat gets close in any direction and you can then swing your hammer more freely," I added with a bit of confidence.

"So we're going more defensively until we're sure that you can kill Grimm? And when you prove to yourself that you're the sloth warrior I know you to be, then it's hammer time?" Nora asked hopefully.

"Yes?"

"Then let's get started, Killer!" Nora said before trying to push everyone into a spot for the formation.

Glad to see Nora has so much faith in my capabilities.

"Yo, Newbie! Front and center!"

"Gotcha."

* * *

 **Northern Temple Ruins**

We finally made it judging how there were many pedestals with a couple with objects sitting atop them. The journey was not entirely without conflict. We had met many Ursas and Beowolves on our way. We followed Ozpin's advice in that we destroyed everything in our path. Everything... Courtesy of the girls in our group.

Note to self, pretty face equals to deadly.

We had changed our formation a few times on our way here. Though I consistently was able to kill the Grimm, we ran into a fair number other problems with regards to our original formation. Turns out that since most of my training involved a lot of dodging, I would occasionally get in Ruby's and Yang's way. I could see where their solo mentality came from. Thankfully we changed the strategy before Nora could get hurt from a barreling Grimm or I could get diced/smashed by my teammates.

After many renditions and trial and error, we managed to slowly get our formation down pat for the typical Grimm. We had finally settled with having two vanguards with Yang and me since Yang could work around my movements easily. We had two rearguards. Ren maintained his position because he ran into the least trouble doing his job with the exception that he often needed aid to deal with Grimm that tried to sneak up on him. Nora also took up a rear position as well to help Ren with his situation.

Ruby became the center despite her unwieldy weapon. She simply just had to keep the blade tucked in and could use it as long as someone helped steady her stance. Turns out having her scout out enemies with her sniper rifle safely from the center made things a lot easier. Plus getting a surprise attack to end fights before they started was a boon. She also acted as our quick response if things started to look dicey on any front.

This was the formation that showed the best results. We even managed to kill a two-headed snake called a King Taijitu in mere second by having Yang and I dash in opposite directions to distract the creature. As it tried to catch us separately, it left its center open for attack. Ruby quickly went down the center to bisect the creature. It died instantly, and everyone gave Ruby and I congratulations for a well thought out plan and ending a pretty rare Grimm so easily. Though both Nora and Yang were a tad bit disappointed that something with the word king in its name went down so easily.

Thrill seekers, the both of them.

Speaking of Nora, we had yet to run into anyone else. Nora somehow made it all this way without getting a partner, which seemed odd since we weren't exactly quiet on our way here. There were liberal amounts of gunfire and explosions. I figured that someone who was alone would have tried to find a group to ride the coattails of. You know, safety in numbers and all that.

"Who are you?" Nora asked inquisitively as she had dashed out of formation to find a girl with a giant black bow sitting on her head and clad in black and white sitting atop one of the pillars above the relics. I hadn't even seen her until just now that Nora had pointed her out.

"Blake Belladonna. Anyone in your group without a partner?"

"ME! Nora Valkyrie! Nice to meet you!"

"Right... It's a... pleasure to meet you too," Blake said hesitantly as she mulled over how energetic Nora was. She was far from displeased, but I could see that she was somewhat reluctant. Probably someone who preferred a quiet environment.

"Already got a relic?" I asked to keep Blake talking.

"She casually tossed a golden piece to Nora who had easily caught it.

"I'm Queen of the Castle!" Nora chanted.

"There were some missing pieces already. There are only two knight pieces left that come in a pair. The other pieces are missing another to make a pair," Blake said with a casual shrug.

"Any idea how teams are formed?"

"Probably, matching relics."

Really not one for words, though I guess she was just politely answering a question with an obvious answer.

"Sounds about right, any idea who took the other rook?"

"Nope, it was actually the only piece missing when I got here. Figured that whoever took it must be a pretty good pair of Hunters/Huntresses."

What she didn't state was that she got here by herself and was only beat out in speed by one group.

"So not willing to consider trading it for a knight piece if our group decided to game the system?" I asked as I tried to think what team composition would be best to keep as many people happy in our group. I'm sure that Ruby wanted to be with her sister very much, but Nora and Ren were... inseparable. Ideally, the best situation would be to have Ruby and I take the rook piece since I think Ruby would be fine as long as I was around. Yang could take care of herself as well as Ren. Nora was the main concern.

It would work out best for the five of us if Blake agreed, but Blake made it pretty apparent what her motivations were. Can't exactly fault her for wanting the best team she could get.

"No."

Figures.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Nora stiffen just slightly as a very obvious worry popped in her mind.

"Hey, Nora... Remember what I said earlier? You're always free to hang out with us," I gently added.

"Yeah..." Nora said with a sad smile lacking her usual energy.

"Hey, just think of it as making our group of friends even bigger. Perhaps we can even ask the Headmaster to put us all together in the same class and in rooms across from each other."

"You'd think he'd do that?"

"He seems like the kind of guy to bend the rules a bit."

He did actively tell his students to find ways to circumvent the rules of Initiation, and judging by Professor Goodwitch's reaction, his casual disregard for the rules seemed to occur more often than not.

"But what if he says no?"

"Whose to say we can't just have a sleepover?" Ruby piped up.

"Every day?" Blake inquired.

"Well I'm sure Ren can go over every now and then," Ruby responded.

"Well, I'm fine if she wishes to sleep in your room. More room for myself," Blake flippantly stated in a way that minorly annoyed me. I know that she probably had her reasons, but the way she just didn't seem to care about our predicament rankled me. Plus, she just subtly and casually dismissed Nora in a way that indicated that she could care less about her. I was probably just thinking too much into it. At least she wasn't hostile, just apathetic.

Not wanting Nora to feel bad about her partner, I quickly said, "Do you hear that, looks like you're still stuck with us."

"You'd really do that?"

"Of course," all of us said with varying positive tones and additives.

"No sloth left behind after all," I said.

Ruby and Yang mentioned something about weapon fanatics/thrill seekers sticking together.

"Renny?"

"Like you even need to ask. Can't imagine a life without you in it," Ren chuckled out.

"I love you guys so much! Team RRAYN (Rain) for life," Nora joyously said as she somehow scooped us all into a hug. And I thought Ruby was fast. She managed to gather us all up despite us being in separate areas of the temple.

"Yes, yes we love you too. Ah too tight, Nora," I choked out as she increased the pressure the longer the hug got.

"Can't breathe!"

Poor Ruby.

* * *

 **Beacon Auditorium**

The walk back to the top of the cliffs was oddly peaceful as though the Grimm had all been exterminated. It was probably much emptier given that over thirty initiates just rampaged their way through the forest. Though I tried to get Blake to join our formations, she said she felt she would be more useful by hopping from tree to tree. While likely true, I couldn't help but feel that she was keeping her distance. Par for the course really.

Making it to our destination, we were quickly ushered back to the auditorium to await the team assignments. In there, we only found one other pair despite finding our relic after many other groups. Then a slight concern wormed its way into my mind when I recognized the red and white duo.

"Everyone, it's good to see you! I trust everything went well during Initiation," the friendly redhead said as she saw us enter the room, though I could see the edges of worry fading off her figure when she saw me. Can't blame her, I was the weakest of the group. Plus I doubt Ruby and my's tumble in the air would inspire confidence.

"Wouldn't be here if that were not the case. I see you made it here first, should I assume that you took the rook piece?" I joked back before asking the niggling question in the back of my mind.

"How did you know? Was your group just behind us?"

"Nah, Blake, the one in black and white, got there before anyone else took another piece. Several pieces were missing by the time we got there. She's Nora's partner by the way."

"She managed to get to the temple so quickly by herself? She must be quite skilled," Pyrrha said as she gave a look at Blake with some interest.

"Wouldn't know. We didn't see her fight at all, Champ. The ninja just kept her distance from us and hopped from tree to tree. Pretty sure she didn't have to fight her way through the forest though," Yang added as she wanted to join the conversation. That description was rather... blunt. I guess she noticed how Blake seemingly didn't care about her partner.

Even now, Blake kept her distance from the rest of us. She seemed content merely standing in the odd corner away from the rest of us. Ren, Nora, and Ruby were off in another corner making plans on how we would get Nora in our room. Despite knowing what the three were talking about, Blake made no move to either aid or impede them. It was honestly a tad bit disconcerting.

If the team placement went how we thought it would, I can already tell that Team SNBN (Sunburn) was going to be a mess. Though I guess it was still a better situation than had I or Ruby got the rook as I had initially tried to bargain for. Team APRS (Apricots) would just be an explosion waiting to happen. Sucks for Pyrrha though since her team would always be some hot mess.

"Uh... Run into any trouble yourself?" I asked to get away from the depressing topic of teammates.

"We had... an encounter... with a Nevermore, but chose not to fight it. According to Ms. Schnee, we were ill-equipped to deal with such a threat and that fighting such a creature was unnecessary for Initiation," Pyrrha added with a vague look of regret. It was something I didn't want to pry into. Something told me that Pyrrha didn't want to talk about it and that it had something to do with her partner's decision. Did Weiss not allow Pyrrha to help others during...

Nope.

Don't just assume the worst. I don't know enough about the situation. For all I know, Pyrrha might have just wanted the challenge. She is a four-time champion. Have to have a desire to compete and test her limits to achieve that.

But there was one thing I wanted to know.

"Did you see any giant scorpions too?"

"A Death Stalker? Not face to face, but Weiss suspected that there might have been one in a cave with pictures depicting one such creature. Did you all?" Pyrrha hummed slightly.

I see. Now that I think about it, it should have been glaringly obvious that this Death Stalker would have been hiding in the cave given the pictures. Though why Pyrrha seemed to not have thought that was a bit odd. Did she really not think much about that type of Grimm. Glad that Weiss had enough common sense to pull Pyrrha out before she bit off a bit more than she could chew.

"Nothing that extreme, Champ. Rubes, Newbie and I did fight a King Taijitu, but it went down in seconds. You'd figure something with the word King in its name would have put up some challenge," Yang grumbled.

"Hey, it was a good plan. I'm sure that it would have been a different story if there was only one of us fighting the thing."

"Pretty sure that either Nora, Champ and I could handle a little garden snake like that by ourselves," Yang said as she wrapped an arm around Pyrrha.

"Gotcha. If we ever run into another giant monster, I'll let you punch it," I jested.

"You know me so well," she swooned.

"... So any idea who our remaining teammates are going to be?" Pyrrha asked hopefully.

"Nora is Queen of the Castle."

"Queen of the Castle?"

"She picked up the rook. Also, we all have a strong suspicion that partners are based on matching pieces," I said with a shrug. Seemed logical, but not necessarily true. For all we knew, it could be based on how well we did. We were told that our actions in the forest were being graded.

"The rest of us got the cute ponies, Champ."

"So Ren and Nora..."

"Yeah, but we offered to let Nora stay in our room for as long as she wants. You're welcome to join," I casually invited.

"Are Rubes and I not enough for you, Newbie," Yang interjected as she caught me in another headlock and playfully ruffled my hair.

"Ow! Yang! Hey, she's a friend!" I pleaded to deaf ears.

"You sure it's wise to flaunt team assignments?" Pyrrha asked with a strangely pleading look.

"The Headmaster did greenlight it at the cliffs. If telling students to game the system wasn't a sign of approval then I don't know what is."

I could see relief enter her person. I guess she was worried about whether or not her team would be functional, and she didn't wish to be forced into an arrangement that would lead to four miserable years. At least with us, she had some fun.

We soon heard a loud bang as the doors to the auditorium were opened and many of the initiates walked (or stumbled) in. Some looked worse for wear. Guess the test was much harder for them than it had been for us. Wonder how many of those injuries were inflicted by lack of team coordination. I knew that the majority of damage I took to my Aura was from us trying to figure out how to fight together.

"Attention students, congratulations on passing Initiation. If you would kindly wait a few more moments, we will have the headmaster speak and hand out team assignments," Professor Goodwitch announced on top of the stage. When did she get there? Not that it mattered since she always seemed to be around when students needed to be kept in line.

Once everyone had settled down, the Headmaster stepped up to the center of the stage and began talking.

"Thank you, Glynda. Now, I have some unfortunate news for you all. While all of you have been fortunate enough to pass Initiation, we must take a moment for those that did not survive," the room filled with gasps as the thought that others like them had just died during Initiation. Ozpin paused slightly to allow the air of discomfort to settle a bit before continuing with, "It is my deepest regret to inform you that four of our initiates have lost their lives battling Grimm far beyond what they were expected to face. Mr. Lark and Mr. Bronzewing found themselves facing a Nevermore shortly after pairing up while the Ms. and Mr. Brown ventured into a cave and were caught unawares by the Death Stalker lurking within despite the warnings posted on the entrance. While they made an admirable attempt to fight, ultimately they fell."

A Nevermore... No...

I looked to where Pyrrha was and saw her face go pale. So Weiss had prevented Pyrrha from...

Shit.

I could only lay a comforting hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. She moved closer to me as though my body would shield her from the reality. It was all that I could offer.

Others seemed to have very similar responses as many tensed in hopes it was all just a nightmare.

"While I do not wish to speak ill of the dead and for those who were willing to give their lives for humanity's sake, we are a school to educate you how best to go on to be Hunstmen and Huntresses. Can anybody tell me what they had done wrong?"

Silence swept the auditorium. I'm sure that some had the answer, but no one wanted to answer it. It was shocking and mortifying to know that we were being asked to critique the recently departed. It was galling to ask us of this when we had just been hit with the reality that initiates, like us, were just as susceptible to death.

As the silence held, Professor Ozpin nodded to himself.

"It is because they chose to fight a hopeless battle or ignored clear signs of danger. You are all mortal. Youth and inexperience have kept you naive to think that you can't be killed. Your schools likely coddled you and made you believe that you were exempt from this. That death was not something you would have to face as you acquired the skills to combat Death's envoys, the Grimm. Never forget that you are fighting heartless killing machines. We are in the business of fighting for humanity, not carelessly throwing lives away. So let this be a lesson to you all. Don't leap into battles that you can't possibly hope to win and always know the threat that seeks to destroy you."

I waited for the 'but' in that statement. Something to uplift the mood. To honor the dead.

It never came.

"Now on to more lighthearted fare. We will now begin to assign your teams. When I call your name, please come up to the stage and we will assign your team designation."

That's all? Headmaster Ozpin just casually brushed off the death of four initiates like it was nothing, and he even turned it into a damn lecture. What was wrong with the man? Did our lives even matter to him? I just couldn't...

I could only stew in my own thoughts trying to process the information as the ceremony proceeded with names being rattled out.

"Would Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, Li Ren, and Yang Xiao Long please step up to the stage?"

"Come on, Newbie," Yang gently said as she shook me from my stupor.

"It's going to be okay..." Yang continued.

"Yeah..."

As I numbly got up and walked up to the stage, to stand by Ruby and Ren. Both gave me a knowing look, though Ruby looked as broken as I felt.

Either not noticing my team's dilemma or simply not caring, the Headmaster carried on.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team AYRR (Air). Led by, Jaune Arc!"

"Huh?" I numbly stated since I recognized my name being called.

"Congratulations, young man."

Before I could truly comprehend the events, my team was gently herding me off the stage to allow the next group to be formed.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team SNBN. Led by, Weiss Schnee."

A look of disapproval reflected off of Pyrrha's for a fraction of a second.

The look lingered on Blake's face for far longer as though something foul was in the air.

Weiss looked as though she believed the results were to be expected.

* * *

 **Side Chapter**

I casually scrolled through the results of this year's Initiation as I worked together with Glynda to determine the grades and rankings that would be assigned to each of the students. A tedious affair, mind you, given that we had to analyze over thirty... twenty-eight students and compare them with each other. It was unfortunate that we lost four young souls this year, though how unfortunate was debatable.

Thinking back on the Brown twins, there was nothing particularly outstanding about them. They were simply allowed into Initiation to fill out the numbers and were believed to have enough skills for the majority of the Grimm populating the forest. They would likely have dropped out before the end of the first semester. A cynical part of me only saw them as a waste of effort since time spent on developing them would be lost, but they might have been more suited to joining the police force.

Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark... those two were infinitely more troublesome. Thinking back on their transcripts and references, I could tell that they were neither the most skilled nor... a positive influence. They both rank of racism and had a history of harming their peers. It's all fine and good when such aggression is turned towards the Grimm and criminals, but to harm your fellow peers? They likely would have been expelled (executed) for their behavior in time, and only after they had irreparably damaged the others.

At least in death, they can serve a higher purpose, even if it was simply a lesson in common sense.

Though the two were associated with Mr. Winchester. Probably best to have the boy meet with Dr. Oobleck until further notice.

"Was that entirely necessary?" Glynda asked there was a slight pause in paperwork.

Without looking up, I continued to replay some footage on my scroll and responded. Interesting that the faker managed to take down a King Taijitu even if he was aided by his friends. Fakers always proved surprisingly interesting whenever they pass Initiation. Wonder if he will turn out like either of the Branwen twins. I did notice his displeasure with me during the ceremony. I should probably temper my bluntness near him so that he doesn't turn out to be like another Raven.

Mister Arc also seems to have gathered quite the lineup of powerful allies. Reminds of Tai actually. Not necessarily the best fighter, but has a way to keep the group from killing each other. Note to self, don't alienate the boy and check to see who would mentally be willing to fight to the death. Bonds can carry someone quite far.

"The lesson on mortality?"

Taking it as a yes, I continued.

"All things in life can impart a valuable lesson, no matter how cruel. While the death of four youths is unfortunate, the deaths that would have followed had I not imparted the message that everyone is capable of dying just as easily for foolish actions would be a travesty. Would it not be better to teach them now so that they would not make the same mistake?"

Miss Schnee, while a tad bit coldhearted made the right call. She and Miss Nikos would not have been able to defeat the Nevermore. They simply lacked the capabilities to attack the beast effectively. If only the boys had taken Miss Schnee's advice more seriously. Though I suppose she could have been more proactive in protecting the other students by sealing the cave entrance she and Miss Nikos found earlier. Too competitive to get the best ranking that it blinds her at times. Likely will get her teammates and others in trouble if her Atlesian tendencies aren't tempered.

Miss Nikos, fine form on dispatching the ground threats. Needs to think more for herself though. Too willing to bend to the whims of others, though I suppose that might be something left unattended should Amber's condition not improve.

"But... But to do so would dishonor the dead," Glynda hesitantly said as she tried to resolve the inner turmoil of her morality and her pragmatism.

"Would it not be more dishonorable to allow their deaths to have no meaning? To simply be a grave with nothing of value to attach to? At least they will aid their peers and hopefully keep them alive in memory."

The former terrorist seems oddly unattached. Simply cautious or a spy? Keep a closer eye on her. It wouldn't do to have an active White Fang member learning how to properly utilize Aura. Gods only know how disastrous that could be. Perhaps her tumultuous history with Miss Schnee will reveal more of her intentions. Will also hopefully instill some sense of humanity into the young heiress. I noticed that Miss Schnee was largely unaffected by the news that her peers died due to her decisions. Lack of remorse or simply lack of tolerance for less than perfection? Maybe I need to ask Miss Nikos to stay close to Miss Schnee for her safety if Miss Belladonna finds the heiress to be the monster she likely believes the girl to be.

For Miss Schnee's sake, she would be best served to keep in check her arrogance soon.

"I suppose..."

"This does weigh on my mind. Make no mistake. But I am in the business of raising children, not burying them despite what profession I wrap them up in."

"You're right, sir. It's just..."

"Disheartening."

"Yes."

"And that's why I am the Headmaster. Because we must do what we must to carry on."

Glynda just nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Now let's finish with the assessment. It does not do to dwell on such topics," I said as I once more focused all my attention on the task.

I did have another meeting to attend to after this.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

1) Remember that everything so far is from Jaune's perspective. He only knows what he has been presented and formulates his own thoughts based on them. He also has biases that color his impressions. Everyone does, but he only has his owns to go off of right now.

2) To anyone who thinks I'm bashing characters, no. Like stated in number 2), everything is worded in Jaune's unreliable account of events. He wants to bash decisions even if he tries to give others a chance to disprove his notion. He wants to be proven right whether he knows it or not. Though if you accuse me of my biases coloring my interpretation of a character, then I can't really argue with that. I do have a poor impression of characters like Weiss. Just know that I'm also taking her motivations as a means to direct her actions.

3) Why this team setup? Because it works well with this particular Arc Life's plot points.

4) On a personal note as to why I portray Ozpin as I do, Ozpin is an immortal wizard that sends young and impressionable teenagers to wage his secret war with another evil immortal witch. Pretty sure this falls in line with his thought process despite claiming to be the force of good fighting for humanity. Their deaths, while heavy, would likely mean very little to him since he is not bound by the same rules and probably has become desensitized to such things. Also, you can't trust him as a paragon of virtue. Think about how some villains would rather side with the slayer of humanity rather than Ozpin.

5) Also, there will be the occasional side chapter to clue you more to the reasoning why certain characters act in a certain way, but Jaune will obviously not be privy to most of these.

6) Each written death will have a meaningful impact or value in the story. If Jaune dies frequently, it is because there is literary value in him dying.


	5. Arc Life 2: Cheers

**Arc Life #2: Cheers**

 **The Club**

After the team ceremony, we had received an email listing a number of things regarding our living arrangements, class schedules, etc. Turns out that Team SNBN and Team AYRR had rooms right across each other. Nora hadn't even bothered to enter her team's room and entered ours trying to see how we could arrange it to accommodate her presence. She had quickly wrangled both Ren and Ruby as they began their plans.

Weiss look liked she wanted to say something but wisely kept her mouth shut given how she was the least liked out of the eight of us. She couldn't even rely on Blake because she somehow already offended the girl in black. Both just entered their room without speaking to each other.

Pyrrha and I were largely silent and hadn't entered either of our rooms. My mind had been swirling at how casually the Headmaster had treated the death of his students. Pyrrha... I couldn't even begin to understand what she must be feeling. The only thing that I knew for sure was that she did not want to be in the same room as the Ice Queen at the moment.

Noticing our discomfort, Yang quickly notified Ruby that we were going to head out for the night and to not do anything to the room before we got back.

One air trip (that I had barely noticed) later, the next thing Pyrrha and I knew we were heading to the entrance of a club judging by the music that was coming from it.

"Yang, what are we doing here?"

"You and Champ look like you really needed a drink."

"A drink?" Pyrrha asked with a hollowed still haunting her face look on her face.

"Yeah. You know, the thing you do when you feel like your carrying the world on your shoulders."

"Shouldn't we be doing that at a bar then? Not really in a partying mood right now," I said a bit more gruffly than I meant, which I corrected right away. "Sorry, it's just... Just had some rough realities laid out in front of me."

"No problem, Newbie. I get what you're saying. Been there before. And don't worry, we're not here to party. It's just that I know a guy here."

"Is it wise for us to be here tonight? We do have classes tomorrow morning and I don't think drinking the night before is actually something the Professors would be too happy about," Pyrrha asked as she very likely wasn't in the mood to do anything right now.

"It's never wise to drink... But sometimes it's necessary."

"And I'm assuming now's one of those times," I said tiredly.

I just wanted today to be over with. Hopefully, forget this nightmare for a few hours.

But Yang seemed to believe that we needed this more.

"Lead on," I sighed out.

"Oy, you! Tell Junior that my friends and I would like to... book a private room for tonight," Yang said to a random goon in white that she had pulled from near the entrance. The look of fear on his face behind his shades indicated that she wasn't exactly the regular you wanted. Or at the very least, the type that you gave into immediately.

Wait, didn't Ruby mention that Yang had a habit of burning down or destroying clubs?

"Yang?"

"Yes, Newbie?" Yang said ever too sweetly.

"Ruby was exaggerating when she said that you actually destroy clubs, right?"

"Maybe..."

Translation... No she hadn't, and this club happens to be one that I have destroyed before. They're probably not too happy with me right now. You should probably be ready for shit to hit the fan any moment now.

"Should I have brought Crocea Mors with me?"

"Hopefully not..."

"That does not inspire confidence... Pyrrha, got a solution in case things go south fast or should we just run now?"

"I got my Semblance to fall back on," Pyrrha stated grumpily. She obviously did not want to be here.

"You know if you don't want to be here you can just say it. I'll join you... wherever you decide to go."

"I... I don't think this is wise, but maybe Yang's right. I don't really want to head back right now," Pyrrha said as she grasped one arm with the other as she seemed to fold in on herself.

"We could do something else if you want," I said one last time.

"I wan... no. I think I need to this. It may sound weird to say, but I know Yang is trying to help us," Pyrrha said hesitantly despite how firm her message.

"Yeah... That's Yang for you," I said quietly as the goon came back and took Yang's attention to direct us in.

As we walked in, the noise from the DJ enveloped our senses. The smell of sweat and alcohol pervaded the room, and we immediately became flush from the heat of the many bodies dancing with a care in the world. The deeper we went, the less crowded it got despite the fact that we were being directed to the bar. I guess all the patrons were either on the dance floor or at the table along the sides on the second floor.

Standing at the bar was a large man wearing a black vest over a white dress shirt with a red tie tucked in. His eyes were obscured by the red shades and the lower part of his face covered in facial hair. A relatively intimidating presence. There was only one other patron at the bar. A woman in a black and red dress with heels that looked very apprehensive as though she were ready to pounce at any moment.

"Blondie, what is it you want this time?" the man asked gruffly while wiping a glass in front of him. The fact that he has yet to pull a weapon was a good sign.

"Just a private room for a while. My friends and I need to blow off some steam," Yang casually said as she slowly inspected her hand, which just seemed to make the man more nervous. Great, even I could tell that she was threatening the bartender. Judging from the look on Junior's face, he definitely was on the receiving end of those fists before.

What the hell, Yang!?

So the reason he has yet to pull a weapon on us was that he knew it would be pointless.

"Those two like you?"

"Hunter and Huntress in training? Yup."

"I was asking if they were as trigger happy."

Great, Yang's lack of morals somehow dragged Pyyrha and me down.

"Not as long as you give them something to take the edge off. They've had a trying day."

And now she's trying to sell the image. Seriously, what the hell, Yang?! I thought we were just getting drinks, not threaten someone! Next thing you know you're going to try to shake him down for every Lien he's worth.

The man looked at the both of us. We weren't exactly the most intimidating of people. Pyrrha just seemed too out of place and me just too lanky. The most threatening thing about us at this moment was that we were both extremely unamused with Yang's behavior at the moment. We weren't even directing our glares at him.

He still gave us a long look over as he tried to figure out if Yang was bluffing. He could tell that we didn't exactly seem to agree with Yang's actions, but didn't seem to want to risk starting shit. I could see the doubt in his mind. He seemed to be trying to calculate the damages his club would sustain if he was wrong or pissed off Yang.

With a sigh, he fetched a set of keys under the counter and grumbled something about not being to afford another fight.

"Private rooms are on the third floor. Complete with a selection of spirits and a fridge full of beer. That'll be fifty thousand Lien."

"Seems awfully steep for a couple of hours," Yang pushed.

Great, now we're wringing him for as much as he was worth.

"For a party room, yes. For a room with enough alcohol for you three and more, that's a steal. Plus I can't exactly charge any less given how you wrecked the club last week."

"Noted. Also, how did you get the renovations done so quickly?" Yang said as she forked over the Lien.

"None of your business."

In other words, seriously just go away.

"Just go take your damn drinks and don't go wrecking the place," the man gestured to a set of stairs nearby which we promptly went up.

"Should we be concerned that the drinks might be spiked?" I asked since Junior had caved so easily despite the rude and rough handling.

"Newbie... That is like the one thing every bartender knows not to do."

"Why's that?"

"Because of the onslaught of angry comrades. Plus you don't fuck with humanity's protectors. We're worth more to him as a nuisance than dead. He knows that every Hunter/Huntress lost is that much closer humanity is closer to extinction."

"Sounds oddly self-serving. Though he might not have the guts to pull such a thing given the fact you were pretty much shaking him down with friends," Pyrrha added her bit. I see that Pyrrha was also displeased with what she was shown.

We had stopped moving forward. Did Yang_ Nope, we had just made it to the room.

"Junior...he's well connected to the underground given the fact that he is an information broker. The one thing I've learned about his type is that everything he does is in his own interest and that he's a coward. He won't do anything that could potentially jeopardize his life except when dealing with information, and even then, his goons usually keep him well protected. Junior holds a lot of power for his services, and he knows it. He just sometimes needs a reminder who not to mess with us when he starts to believe he's untouchable," Yang nonchalantly stated as she began unlocking the door to our private room.

"So that makes it right to hold him at gunpoint?" I asked with a bit of steel in my voice. I wanted to trust Yang, but I really didn't like what I had just seen. Yang had just threatened someone to get what she wanted. Yeah, she said it was because Junior was a criminal at heart, but to use force or the threat of it? I just didn't know, and it was so different from how I saw Yang usually.

She was starting to remind me of Weiss.

The_

"Newbie? Pyrrha? What's wrong?" Yang said with a tone as she had stopped moving the moment I had said that. She was worried about that statement. It was obvious. She could tell that Pyrrha and I were immensely displeased with her. But she didn't know why we were unhappy with her. Maybe she thought that it was our day's grudges coming to a head. She didn't seem to see how horrible of a person she was just now.

All Yang knew was that I had reached my breaking point, and my current target was her.

After a few moments of silence, I took a deep breath and thought best about what I wanted to say next. This was the girl who was the only reason that I was still alive and took it upon herself to train me up when I had revealed myself to her. She was a bit rough and crass at times, but she did it in good fun. She had been looking out for me the moment she met me, and we were only here because she wanted to help Pyrrha and me to get through today's events.

But she was capable of falling to her darker instincts so easily. Using force to take what she wanted? Wringing the beaten for every Lien they were worth?

We are supposed to be humanity's line of defense against the Grimm. Paragons of virtue and heroes. This was not something that heroes did. Not even if the criminals they caught would stoop to such acts. And Yang had treated such actions as the norm.

She just found nothing wrong with her actions.

The only reason she was even wary about her own actions at the moment was that Pyrrha and I had found displeasure upon realizing what she had done.

Did I really want to be around someone like that?

"Yang..."

Yang turned towards me. I could see worry mar her face.

What did I want to say? I didn't want to lose a friend, but I couldn't just sit by and say it was okay. I just couldn't consider the idea that some of her tactics should ever be used.

"Newbie... W_" she said while reaching out for me.

I stepped back without a thought.

"I..."

Yang was startled judging how her eyes were wide and starting to quiver... in fear?

No, she does not get to try to make me feel remorseful. She was the one who decided to turn into a thug.

"Yang, what the hell was that downstairs?" I managed to spit out.

"What?" Yang replied with a bit of heat as the shock of my retreat faded.

"What?! What do you mean what? Do you not understand that you were basically extorting the man downstairs?!"

"You mean when I was trying to drive the price down by haggling?!"

"That's bullshit and you know it! The man knows that you use your fists in a fight and saw how you were eyeing them! Hell, I noticed! You weren't exactly subtle about it!"

"Man carries a rocket launcher under his bar! I was reminding him that it would be a bad idea to pull it out on us since the last time I was here he decided to whip it out on me!"

"Was this before or after you started wrecking his bar?"

"That's not the point! I wasn't going to hurt him! I was just telling him that he shouldn't start shit when_"

"Yang, he was afraid of you and only let us in because he believed you were going to destroy the club... again! You threatened him with violence if he did not cave in to your demands! You even roped Pyrrha and me into this! I can't stand the idea of threatening a man just to get what I want, and I seriously doubt tarnishing Pyrrha's reputation for a simple drink was something she was interested in!"

"Jaune, what do you want me to say?! Sorry that I was worried that Junior was going to pull a rocket launcher on us and made the choice to remind him why such an idea was a bad one!"

"Do you really not know why I'm pissed off?! Your first instinct was to threaten someone! Regardless of the type of person you're dealing with, using the threat of violence to make someone else bend to your whims is never a solution!"

"I beg to differ!" Yang said hotly.

I don't believe this. Was Yang really this type of person. I felt sick.

I needed to just get away.

"...I think I need to be alone for a bit. Need to collect my thoughts," I coldly said before turning back to the stairs and proceeded down. The girls made no motion to stop me. Yang was probably overwhelmed by either rage or shock that I was going to just walk away from her. Pyrrha was most likely at a loss over what to do. While she was displeased with Yang's behavior, she likely didn't want to leave her in such an emotional state with a room full of liquor.

Did it make me a shitty teammate and leader for leaving Yang behind to be dealt with by someone else? Probably, but I just couldn't bring myself to look at Yang without something negative feeling boil deep down inside right now. I had no faith that I could keep it in check at the moment.

As I rounded the corner of the stairs, I saw that the bar was still empty. Not feeling too good, I decided to start making amends with Junior for what Yang did.

"How much is a private room normally charged here?" I asked after sitting down and grabbing his attention.

"Look, kid. I told Blondie tha_"

"How much is it normally?"

"Eighty grand."

Fishing out thirty thousand, I laid it on the counter without a verbal complaint. At least I don't have to worry about the bill being a thing on my conscience. Though I was definitely going to have to watch what I spent my Lien on for a month or two.

I tried to get up from the counter to leave before a glass was placed before me with a loud clank as it hit the counter's surface. It was soon filled with an amber liquid. I eyed Junior as I began to wonder what was going on. I'm pretty sure that I had made it clear with my attitude that I didn't want to really be here aside from paying back what was properly owed.

Seeing my obvious confusion, he just sighed and said, "Had a falling out with, Blondie?"

"No offense, but I'm not really interested in talking about Yang right now," I said gruffly despite the fact that I could have easily got up and left. Give him no chance to talk me over.

"Let me put it this way. Is your friend going to start shit because of your lover's spat?"

He was not going to let this go. With a sigh, I downed the drink in one go. Gods it burns! Why the hell does anyone drink this shit?

"Considering how I got angry at her for acting like a common thug and she has yet to pile drive me into a wall, I doubt it."

He filled the glass again with both an amused expression and one that looked a bit miffed. Though this time he used a different bottle and the liquid was clear.

"Kid, that's not how you drink quality Scotch."

With a shrug, I just downed the drink. Gods it was even worse! Seriously, who drinks this? I couldn't help but make a disgusted expression.

"And that's vodka. You did it right that time. So, bourbon or vodka?" Junior chuckled.

"Who actually enjoys this?"

"Plenty of people with an appreciation for the finer things, or people looking to get pissed drunk as quickly as possible," he said while pouring out another glass of amber liquid after making the choice for me.

Looking at the amber liquid sitting in the glass and mockingly glisten in front of me, I tried to think if I was one of those two people at the moment. Oh to hell with it. I paid thirty thousand Lien, I might as well get my money's worth. This time I took a small sip. Didn't nearly burn as much and wasn't as bad as the last two. It left a warm feeling rather than the caustic burning sensation.

"So not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but why?" I asked wondering a lot of things without any real direction. Just wanted some small talk since I had nothing else to do except to sit at the bar and drink thirty thousand Lien's worth of drinks or until my liver kicked the bucket. Whichever happened first.

"Because you actually looked like you needed it," Junior said with a shrug.

"Yeah," I said while finishing my third drink, and Junior proceeded to fill my glass again.

Right, I was here to drown away my worries from the start. Except now I was drinking to deal with the fact that I learned something rather unsavory about Yang. Need a large drink for that. As I brought the glass to my lips again, I could feel my scroll buzz. Looking at the screen, I saw that Mom was looking for a video chat. I tried to hang up not wanting her to realize that I was drinking, but found that my finger had somehow drifted to the wrong button.

Maybe I should slow down on the drinking. But then again, I was going to be dealing with my Mom any second now about me drinking.

I downed the glass without a second thought, which Junior helpfully refilled.

"Hey, Jaune! Are you drinking?! Young man, you shouldn't be drinking regardless of how the results were!" Mom started cheerfully before realizing what I was currently doing. It also didn't escape my notice that she had already expected me to say that I failed. Zero faith, thanks, Mom. I proceeded to take another long swig from the drink in front of me.

Was it petty and spiteful? A little bit, but I really needed to take another hit.

"Didn't fail, Mom. For your information, I actually passed the test. Even lead the group that was the second fastest to pass. Was even made team leader."

Okay, now that was petty. Especially since I enjoyed the shocked expression on Mom's face. When it shifted to a regretful grimace, I need another drink.

That's better.

Thanks, Junior!

"That's... that's great, Honey," Mom said listlessly.

"Yeah... Great..." I nearly scoffed as I sipped on my new drink.

"You don't sound that happy," Mom asked with a weird in-in-inflec. She asked with a weird tone.

"That's one word for it."

"What's wrong? Wasn't it your dream to become a Huntsman?"

"Dream was to be a hero and not some glorified exp-exp-expen. Not some random body waiting to land in an unnamed grave."

"Jaune, what happened?"

With a sigh, I took another long sip from my current drink.

"Four others died during the test," I said glumly.

"Oh my! Did-did you know them?"

"No, but that's not what really bothered me."

"Then what did?"

"It was the fact that the Great and Powerful Oz made a goddamn mockery of their death. Casually just said that they were idiots and that we should just carry on as though they never mattered," I said angrily but at a low volume. I really didn't want to give Junior any reason to throw me out for losing my cool.

"So I see that you met the illustrious Headmaster?" a male voice sounded from the scroll. Great, Dad's involved now.

"Unfor-unfortun-unfortunately. He also made me realize that being a Huntsman just means you get to die on the side of a road and alone rather than in the comfort of your own home."

"Then why haven't you booked the first flight home yet?"

"What?"

"If things are as bad as you think they are, why aren't you heading home yet?" my Dad said once more.

I couldn't respond. Why hadn't I gone home yet? Just jump ship while I can. What stopped me from doing so? My friends, while they would be disappointed would understand. They knew I was just some civilian that got in way over his head but happened to do well enough to pass. Plus we only knew each other for a few days. It'd be a dick move to leave my team down a member and without a leader, but they would understand. The school also did have the occasional dropouts so it wasn't like it never happened before.

After waiting for a while for me to respond, Dad decided to answer for me.

"You're staying at Beacon because you want to and need to be a Huntsman."

"I did."

"No, you still do."

"Maybe I lost interest."

"Then you would already be flying home."

"Maybe I should!"

"You won't," the man said with a shrug.

"And why's that?"

"Because you're good enough. You, your mother and I know this now. You even made it into the school with zero skills. If you leave now, you'll always ask yourself what if. Whenever something bad happens involving the Grimm, you'll always ask yourself if you leaving caused it. You'll always ask if you had been on the scene, would you have made the difference. People like you Jaune will always ask those types of questions."

"And if you're wrong? What if I'm just some kid who just figured out that being a Huntsman is nothing like a fairy tale? What if I finally wised up and now know that being a Huntsman is just some fancy title for someone who's stupid enough to go looking for trouble until he gets himself killed," I hiccuped more then yelled. I took another sip to help me calm down.

"Then you'll book a flight home soon enough, but I seriously doubt that," Dad said after giving me a moment to calm down. He promptly hung up once he decided that I had heard what he had said.

I stared at the drink in front of me. I lost interest in drinking it as my Dad left me with the options between dropping out or sticking to Beacon. If I was smart, I would leave and stay in the safety of my home with a loving family. Hell, they couldn't even be disappointed in me since I got in without any real training.

The thought made me disappointed in myself though. Would I really quit so soon?

Had it been in my first life, the answer would have been obvious. I would never have left. But after dying once? And to know how your death would have been treated as? What it all amounted to?

Dying sucked, but dying and be treated like a little blurb on a pamphlet. That was just terrible.

"So what you gonna do, kid?" Junior asked as he noticed how quiet I was.

"I don't know."

"Want my advice?"

"Why not."

"Your old man's right."

"And how do you know?"

"Because you're a good kid. Probably too good for your own," Junior said as he pulled out the Lien card that I was paying him with. Message received. Don't bother arguing.

"So what if I'm a good kid?"

"You just want to do what's right or at least what you think is right. Going home with your tail between your legs isn't right."

"That's racist you know," I said without a thought before reaching for my unfinished glass which was cruelly pulled away from me by my bartender.

"See. That right there. Didn't even take a second think about it before pointing out my shit."

"Talking the talk and walking the walk are two different things," I pouted as I missed the nice warm feeling that was slowly disappearing from me.

"Then let me put it to you this way. Out of all of your little school friends, how many went to Beacon to help people?"

"Pretty much all of them," I scoffed as I thought about everyone I had met at Initiation. Ruby, Ren, and Nora were obvious especially since they told me. Pyrrha likely had the same goal given how she reacted to finding out about the deaths that she could have prevented had the Ice Queen let her. Blake... I don't know. And Yang_

I reached for the glass only to have Junior slide it away again.

Dammit fine, Yang definitely wouldn't sit back and allow shit to just happen.

Seeing that I had properly thought about the conversation for a second, Junior then asked, "Now imagine the world if all of them gave up. If all of them simply walked away so that they could just live another day."

"They would never," I scoffed again.

"And why's that?"

"Because they're good people."

"Like you?"

"Again it's not about what kind of person I am. It's about what I am able to do!"

"You got accepted did you not?"

"Because I basically got carried!"

"Not from what I heard from you. Didn't you tell your mom that you lead the team? That your team had one of the best results?"

"Please, you know I was just being an asshole."

"True, but was it true?"

"... Fine. I did lead the team and we did place well," I finally gave.

"There you go. Good enough," Junior said as he patted my shoulder.

"Fine, I give. I'll stay for a little while longer. Gods know why you and Dad seem to think I belong at Beacon. Why do you care so much anyway?"

"Kid, I have a lot of sad sacks come into my club and give up. I'd rather not see that, especially not for someone kind enough not to abuse the Huntsman discount."

"There's a discount for Huntsman."

"Not officially, kid. And seriously that's what you pick up on?"

"Sorry, just the whole dying thing wasn't the only reason I was drinking tonight."

"What? Blondie a bit too wild for you?"

"You could say that. It's just after realizing that Huntsmen were nothing special and then seeing her use her training against you for something as small as a drink... It just was a pretty harsh reality check and the lesson came as a real example from someone I looked up to. I guess I was just hoping it was all some weird in-joke that I missed," I sighed.

"Another reason why I want people like you becoming Huntsmen. Also sorry to tell you this bud but there are far too many Huntsmen too entirely willing to use the fact they're needed and can easily just take what they want. If its any consolation to you, at least Blondie was just throwing a temper tantrum rather than trying anything nefarious because she could."

"If you don't mind me asking, why exactly did Yang trash your club?"

"Kid, do you know what I am?"

"Yang mentioned something about being an info broker or something."

"The best information broker in all of Vale, but that doesn't mean I know everything," the man said proudly.

"So I assume it's safe to say that this happened to be the one time you didn't have an answer."

"She thought that I might have been withholding information on behalf of her target. She attempted to persuade me that my interests were more in line with her."

"Surprised that you didn't just feed her some bs to send her on some wild goose chase."

"I'm the best for a reason, kid. I'm a professional," Junior said as he chose to adjust his tie to give off a more serious look with that statement.

"So what exactly makes you the best aside from being a know it all?" I asked with some humor in my voice.

"I tell no lies with my information, I never reveal something if paid to keep it silent and if I don't know something I make it my business to be in the know."

"Remaining silent? Sound kind of backward for someone in the business of dispensing information and dangerous," I chuckled.

"People pay good money when they know people go to you for information. When you turn down enough lucrative bribes and after a few unproductive ass-kickings, they quickly learn to not even bother. Plus, silence is an answer on its own at times. Though Blondie must not have gotten the memo," Junior grumbled at the end.

Great, so Yang had less self-control than a crook. I made a grab for the glass that Junior had been playing keep away with for a while now. When I managed to grab it on the first try, I realized that my drinking ban must have been lifted.

"So who exactly was she looking for?"

"One Raven Branwen. Sounded Mistralian, but nothing turned up through legal sources, and my contacts gave me nothing regarding her. The closest I got to an answer was when I looked up her brother, Qrow Branwen. Happened to be Blondie's uncle and teacher. He also often takes missions from Ozpin himself. Also keeps tabs on his sister according to the bartenders that bother to listen to his drunken rants. Obviously, I did not delve deeper," the man grumbled. He was likely unhappy due to the fact that this was a black mark on his reputation.

Yang's uncle is Qrow. Was Raven Yang's mother? What can of worms did I stumble on?

Nope, drink away that thought for now.

"So zilch on any information?"

"Remember what I told you, kid? Sometimes silence is an answer in of itself."

"Enlighten me."

"She's definitely on the wrong side of legal since she's not official. Easy enough to figure, but to have the attention of someone like Ozpin? She's either a prospect or bad news. My money's on the latter."

"And why's that?"

"Because my information network is silent."

"So what does that make her?"

"Mistralian Bandit Queen at best," he said gruffly.

It needn't be said what else she could be.

It was also needless to say that Yang would be unhappy. Either from the lack of new information or because of it was still something I did not know.

"Well, that's just cheery. I really hope Yang doesn't turn out like her mother."

"Caught on to that fact," the man said with a small grin.

"Not so far gone that I can't do basic addition," I said with another empty glass. I got the remaining bottle in return.

That's a good man!

"I can tell you now that Blondie ain't going to turn out to be some crook."

"What makes you say that?" I asked hopefully.

"Because she was desperate when she came to me. I could tell she was really riding on me having something to give her. She's just a kid throwing a temper tantrum. Unfortunately, she hits very hard and fast."

"Yeah, she does."

Drink away the pain. That's right.

"So what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

He gave me a look.

"I don't know," I glumly stated.

"Figure it out because I'm sending you back up there."

"I much rather you didn't," I grimaced.

"And I'd rather not have my club trashed again because someone decides to throw a temper tantrum."

"And you think sending me back there won't result in that?"

"Less likely than if you leave her behind."

"I don't know about that..." I trailed off.

Yang would totally burn this place down in a drunken rage if she wasn't talked down, and I doubt Pyrrha would be able to talk her down. Though she might be able to restrain her.

Aw, fuck it. This was my problem.

"Fine. Any advice on what I should say?"

"Honestly, just say how you feel."

"That sounds incredibly stupid considering that that's what got me into this situation in the first place," I deadpanned.

"No, it's sound advice. The secret is to not be a screaming asshole about it."

"Got another bottle? I think I may need it for what I'm about to do."

"Kid you're walking into a room full of liquor."

"For before," I said as I showed him the empty bottle.

Junior gave an exasperated stare. Before reaching for another bottle under the counter. Surprised that he was speechless. I have been drinking with him for a while.

"You are really going to regret tonight tomorrow."

"Yeah, but this is now," I chuckled before taking a deep pull.

Well, time to go face Yang. Need another pull for that.

Walking back up the stairs I began to think about what I wanted to say to Yang. I recalled everything about her. I remembered every good thing about her. I remembered what I found about her that I disliked. I remembered and debated what I felt about the girl. In the end, the walk up the staircase was not enough to reconcile what I thought nor was it enough to determine what I wanted.

Standing in front of the door, I tried to turn the handle to realize that it was locked. Figures, it was a private room after all.

With no better option, I pounded on the door.

"Yang! Open the door!"

For a few moments, I continued to pound the door. When I stopped to hear anything, I heard nothing behind the door, but that may be because Junior soundproofed it.

"Yang, please! I just want to talk!" I hollered.

I heard a click and immediately felt pain as the door met my face.

"Dammit, I said I wanted to talk," I groaned as I clutched my nose.

"Sorry!"

"You're not Yang," I said as my words started slurring. Whether it was from the pain or the alcohol I didn't know.

"She_" Pyrrha started before I gently pushed her out of my way. I'll apologize to her later.

I found Yang nursing a clear bottle. Her hair was a mess and her I could tell her eyes were flickering red. I could tell that she was unhappy with me right now, but oddly enough it didn't seem to be angry. It was there, but she seemed sad... No more like reluctant acceptance of something. I don't know.

Point was that she was unlikely to pound my face in immediately.

"Newbie?" Yang said when she processed that I barged in of my own accord

Not giving her time to push me away, yell at me, or do a runner, I just started talking.

"I'll be honest..." I said slowly as I tried to form the words as I tried to truthfully convey everything, "I think the world of you, Yang... I know we've only known each other for a short time... But in that short amount of time, you've given me every reason to see you like some amazing person... You're a caring sister... A mentor... Someone willing to look out for an idiot like me... Not to mention your beauty... Just someone simply amazing in every way... I actually thought you could do no wrong... But this? Using force to get what you want? That just isn't right... It's just hard to imagine that you would do something like this and not seem to care about what your actions mean... What they mean for you as a person... It's just so wrong. We're supposed to be heroes, and while real life isn't fantasy... there has to be a line drawn in the sand. A line that you can't afford to cross because you'll just draw a new line. You'll cross that line and then you'll draw a new one. You'll just keep redrawing and crossing those lines until there's nothing you won't do... And when you do, you realize far too late how much of a monster you are. I absolutely refuse to work with a monster... I just can't do it, Yang."

Yang began to droop as she began to make the assumption that I was done with her.

She was wrong.

"That's why... I won't let you ever do this again," I managed to say after finally figuring out my feelings.

Yang was my friend and I would never leave her. She was a good person but just needed someone to prevent her from doing bad things.

"Newbie?" she asked hopefully with shock and tears brimming on the corners of her eyes.

"For better or worse, we're teammates... No, your one of my closest friends, and I refuse to allow you to be anything but that minimum. But I can't compromise my morals. So I guess I'll have to stop you from doing something incredibly stupid," I ended awkwardly as I began running a hand through my hair.

The last few days have not been good to me emotionally. I really needed a drink.

Plopping down next to her, I put my bottle in her hand before grabbing the one she originally had. Looking at it for a few moments, I decided to give vodka another try. Yep, still tastes like shit. Looking around the room I saw that Yang was still overwhelmed by her thoughts and Pyrrha was lost in her own thoughts despite not having really been part of the near falling out.

"You two plan on drinking anytime soon?"

* * *

 **Beacon-Team AYRR's Room 7:00 AM**

"My head," I heard two groans next to me say as an alarm rang. Also pretty sure that I added my own to that mix.

Looks like Aura did not protect the user from a hangover. Blearily looking around, I noticed that we were sleeping in a bunk bed with some desks scattered across the room. When the hell did we get back to Beacon? Oh, gods! I blacked out! Also, is it just me or was the bed above us held up by rope? The hell?

Wait, wasn't their other people groaning about their heads?

Looking about, I saw Pyrrha and Yang both still by my sides and trying to go back to sleep to escape their hangover. That seemed like a smart idea. Good night.

* * *

 **Beacon-Team AYRR's Room 8:00 AM**

Someone was banging the door hard!

"Make the bad noise go away!" I pathetically moaned as it had brought me back from blissful sleep. The girls next to me agreed with the sentiment.

Soon the banging stopped as someone had finally decided to get to the door to find out the asshole making out lives miserable.

Only for Ruby to holler an angry, "WHAT!"

"Where's my partner?!"

Oh, gods! Not the banshee! Why must she make my life so difficult?!

"Sleeping!"

Please don't add to the noise level, Ruby.

"Why is she in your room!?"

"I don't know! She went clubbing and came in with Jaune and Yang last night. They all just passed out in Jaune's bed!"

"They all slept together?!"

"For the love of...," I got out of my warm bed to storm to the door to give a dead stare at the source of my current suffering before saying, "Shut up!"

I then slammed the door before proceeding back to my spot and passing out. It was nice and warm. Very cozy.

* * *

 **Beacon-Team AYRR's Room 8:45 AM**

"C'mon Fearless Leader! Yang! Pyrrha! It's time to kick your lazy butts in gear!"

"Head... So much pain! Please no..."

"Sorry busters, but classes start soon! So move those butts!"

"Loud noises bad..."

"I'll stop shouting when the three of you get out of bed!"

I heard a loud thump as someone rolled out and onto the floor.

"C'mon Ruby! Let's get your sister off the floor!"

"You promised to stop yelling if I got out of bed..." the object groaned.

"No, the deal was for all three of you!"

"Dammit! Champ, Newbie! Get your butts out of bed!"

Without much of a choice, I finally managed to push my body up. I wanted to hurl, but my stomach felt strangely empty. Did I already vomit? Strange that the room didn't smell as though I had. I felt the bed shift as Pyrrha had finally managed to right herself.

"Good Morning, sleepyheads!"

"Why the shouting?"

"You're still in bed."

"Fine..." I said as I finally got up and helped Pyrrha do the same.

After standing for a few seconds, I felt myself waking up completely. My head was still pounding and_

Did I actually just sleep in the same bed as Yang and Pyrrha!?

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

1) To the reviewer saying that I use _ too much, I do have a reason for using it. I make use of underscores, ellipses, and hyphens for different things. If you take a look, I usually use underscores for interruptions, ellipses for when someone trails off and hyphens when someone stutters. It's to give a bit more context on how the words are being said. Why this setup? Just because.

2) Have you ever had a day when everything just seems to go wrong and then your friend just accidentally sets you off?

3) Also, a lot of things make sense when you haven't woken up yet.

4) Junior is actually an all right guy. If you look back in the Yellow Trailer, Yang is definitely the bad guy. But we side with her because she's an attractive woman and clearly the guys in suits are the bad guys. Not wrong in the big picture, but definitely at the moment, Yang is the criminal.

5) I'm establishing that a Lien is the same as a penny.


	6. Arc Life 2: Day 1

**Arc Life #2: Day 1**

 **Beacon-Hallway**

I couldn't voluntarily look at Yang and Pyrrha at all on our way to class. While I realize that I was extremely lucky to have been in the same bed (even if we just passed out) as two supermodel level girls, my mind kept shutting down whenever I looked at them. It didn't help that Pyrrha turned as red as a tomato every time our eyes met for even longer than a second. Yang was an entirely different story.

"Aw, Newbie! Having a **hard** time looking at me? I thought you liked me for my looks among others things," Yang said as she had wrapped an arm around me and kept her generous assets right in my view or was pressing it against my arm.

"She's just messing with you, Jaune. Not going to rise to it. It's just_" I tried to mumble to myself.

"Aw... My looks not good enough for you anymore now that you've bedded me."

I just placed my face into my palms or rather placed my palms on my face since Yang was still holding onto me. It was just too early in the morning and I still had a hangover. How was Yang so energetic right now? Didn't she also drink too much last night?

"Jaune-Jaune, just because I call you by your name twice doesn't mean you need a girl for each."

Oh joy, Nora has decided to join the fun.

"Please, have some mercy. I'm still hungover," I grumbled.

"Speaking of which... How could you, Mr. Buns," Ruby said with a quiver.

Not you too, Ruby.

"You're my partner! You're supposed to be my super-bestie-better-than-the-restie! And you go out and get drunk with my sister! I thought that we were supposed to hang out!"

I couldn't tell if she was joking. She could have just joined the teasing given the fact that she was calling me by the nickname, but she might have actually meant that. Ruby acted innocently enough for me to believe that she would be a little hurt that I hadn't hung out with her.

"I'll spend the whole weekend doing any fun activity with you. Just please make whatever this is stop, I might literally be dying right now."

"YES!"

Pyrrha and I grimaced as the loud shout had a nasty effect on us at the moment. Yang hid it better, but I could feel her body stiffen given that she had me in another headlock. Seriously, why does she keep doing that? Is her arm my collar or something?

"Ruby... Volume down. Please..."

"Sorry," she mercifully whispered.

"You really should have drunk in moderation, you three."

"Ren, I understand where you're coming from, but seriously not helpful right now."

"Then I suppose that you don't want these hangover cures that I whipped up earlier."

"Pinky, you best explain why you haven't forked those over to us yet," Yang said with her grip tightening.

Pinky... I guess that's fitting, but I'm surprised that she didn't give that nickname to Nora. She does use pink explosives and wears pink. Wonder what Yang's gonna name Nora. The Booper?

But more importantly...

Ren you traitor.

"Because you would just go get wasted again if you knew that I have and was willing to just hand them over," Ren said with an unamused expression. Not going to fall for it. He's a sadistic bastard on the inside. I just know it. He's probably feeling far too much amusement behind that poker face, and he took far too long in even mentioning the medicine to convince me otherwise.

"Ren, as your leader I order you to hand over your magic medicine," I deadpanned with an outstretched hand.

"It doesn't seem as though you have learned your lesson yet. Perhaps after class," Ren sadistically hummed.

"Besides, we're here," Nora cheered as we had made it to class with only a few minutes to spare.

Opening the door, I found that the entire front row was empty save for one student. And now she was giving me a death glare. Nothing surprising there given that I told her to shut up bright and early this morning.

As our group filed in, Ruby took the seat furthest she could from the Ice Queen and dragged me along. This, in turn, dragged Yang as she was still latched onto my neck. Pyrrha having bonded with Yang and I took a seat next to her. Giving a quick glance, I could see that Weiss was giving a disappointed look when Pyrrha had done this rather than the expected glare.

Ren made the conscious decision to sit right by Weiss given that he had the least issue with her. I saw that Weiss had started to gather her belongings. She must have seen the open spot and hoped to nab a seat next to her partner even if it meant that she had to get closer to the group of people that she disliked the most. This would have literally put Pyrrha in the middle between her friends and her partner's conflict. That would have been awkward for all, but fortunately, Nora sat between Ren and Pyrrha.

Weiss was not pleased by this seating arrangement. I really couldn't fault her for that this time. She had caught her partner in the same bed as Yang and me, and Pyrrha had opted to spend more time with us rather than her despite the two of them being partners. Nora was still sitting more with Ren than her really. Blake... was nowhere to be seen (seriously, where is that girl). Given how she seemed to care about being the best and looking the best, this did not exactly fall in line with her plans.

Before Weiss could verbally make her displeasure known, the door banged open as the Professor decided to enter with a bang. By kicking out the door that was designed to slide out of the way. I'm sure I would have appreciated the entrance more had it not caused a ruckus or had Ren decided to be a pal give me his magic medicine.

"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey," the portly man in red with a white mustache said in an exaggerated tone before giving the fakest laugh I've ever heard. He sounded as though he were talking to ten-year-olds. He even elongated his pronunciation of some of the words as though he thought it would make it more interesting.

How did this man actually turn an interesting sentence into something so dull?!

When his introduction had actually induced sleep in one of the students (Ruby?! How did he put her to sleep?!), he awkwardly continued with, "Uhh, and you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy. I am **the** Professor Port, and I teach Grimm Studies here at Beacon Academy. Now as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms (I could hear him mentally scoffing when he mentioned them), are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses! (Oh gods, did he just wink at Yang!) Individuals who have sworn to protect those that cannot protect themselves... From what you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Eyy-yeah!" a guy yelped a few seats back. He was alone in this sentiment.

"That is what you are training to become. But first, a story. A tale of a young, handsome man. Me..."

And now he's lost me. At least he had the decency to have posted the diagrams of five types of Grimm on the board. I could recognize the Death Stalker, King Taijitu, and Beowulf. So that's what a Nevermore is. It's a giant flying bird?! And it rains steel feathers of death from above?! How the hell are we supposed to kill the damn thing!? Did the diagram actually say to bait the damn thing into trying to grab us?!

I quickly looked towards Ruby to see if she could answer my questions only to find her doodling a stick figure of Professor Port. My brotherly instincts acting up, I nudged her to grab her attention. When she looked, I quickly wrote, "You should be taking notes," on the top of my notes.

Ruby gave me a funny look before replying, "On what?"

Tuning back into the speech, I heard the man say something about oddly smelling like cabbages.

"The diagrams, Ruby," I wrote back in response. This earned me a pout. Before quickly tilting her head to gesture to the rest of the class. It was a mixed bag in terms of what the others were doing. For more diligent and/or polite students (namely Pyrrha, Ren, and Weiss), they kept their attention on the man on stage. They had pencils and pens ready, but I could see no hand movement. Other students were clearly just fooling around without repercussion as the Professor kept talking. There were even a couple of students that were taking a nap.

The one common thing they all had was that they were not taking notes.

Honestly, I was half tempted to just sleep off my hangover. But I didn't exactly think it wise to goof off or give reason to Ruby to goof off as well.

"Do it or the fun activities this weekend is going to be a study session," I finally wrote down.

That did the trick. Ruby was quickly scribbling down the notes on Grimm in a desperate attempt to finish her work within class time.

I probably should write the rest of the diagrams myself. Not wanting to look at the disaster of a diagram for a Nevermore, I looked at the remaining Grimm I had never seen before. A Boarbatusk... and it showed a boar except its horns actually curved back to its bone plated face. Instinctually charges whenever it can and has an extremely dense plating compared to normal Grimm. Just dodge and hit it on the side or try to cut off its legs. Good to know!

Looking down at my desk, I checked over the notes that I had just written. I quickly crossed out the notes on how to deal with the Nevermore because of how stupidly dangerous it sounded. Without looking up, I raised my hand to ask a question.

"Ah, Mr. Arc! Let's find out. Step forward, and face your opponent," the man gestured to a giant metal cage with glowing red eyes that was violently shaking. How did none of us notice that before?! Also, what exactly did I volunteer myself for? And Weiss, stop glaring at me. And why is Ruby handing me my weapon?! Why did she bring my weapon to class?!

Why was I actually walking to the center of the classroom?!

There was a bunch of cheers of encouragement from the front row, but I couldn't make out what they were saying as I stared numbly at the red glowing eyes. I drew my sword and deployed my shield as I waited and hoped that whatever was in it would burst out and chew my face out.

"Alright. Let the match, begin!" the Professor unhelpfully stated as he hefted a battle ax to chop off the lock holding the monster in the cage. I hate this man.

When the wall of the cage fell, it revealed a Boarbatusk with several bits of bone scattered across its surface. And it immediately started charging at me.

Dodge!

As I rolled back into a stance, I noticed that the Grimm was trying to slow down and turn given how it was skidding to a stop. Review time! The notes said it charged only and to avoid the bone.

For crying out loud, I don't think I can get a clean hit since the bone covered its body sporadically! My aim was also shit since my hangover was now kicking into overdrive with the blood now trying to pump through my aching skull.

Stop thinking, it's charging again! I jumped to the side rather than do a dodge roll this time and made a wild swipe at the beast as it passed by only for me to hear a telltale ring as the metal collided with bone rather than flesh.

"Oh, ho! You'll either need to swing harder if you wish to break the plating, Mr. Arc. But perhaps it would be better if you aimed your blade for the flesh! Or maybe stab it if you can't muster the strength to cut through its thick hide! And look alive because here it comes again!"

I really hate this man.

Oh shit! Did the thing just jump into the air and turn itself into a bowling ball?!

I dodged and swung again. This time it sliced between the plates but did almost no damage as I couldn't properly put my strength into it what with having to swing without good footing. Great... Now what! Notes said to remove its legs, but I seriously doubt I could cut them off safely.

Why can't Grimm be bumbling idiots that would just trip and die?

Wait... trip?

I looked down at my shield which had been completely useless during this demonstration. Could I use this to trip_

Had to dodge again before the damn monster tackled me. Could I use this to trip the Grimm? It would leave me without a shield, but I wasn't exactly planning to tank a Grimm with it.

"Come now, Mr. Arc! Are you a true Huntsman or not!"

I really really hate this man.

With nothing to lose, I loosened the straps on my shield and waited for the Boarbatusk to charge again. It wasn't long before it made another mad dash. As it drew closer, I dropped my shield on the floor and made as small a sidestep I could. The boar kept moving straight, but the moment one of its legs landed on the shield, the unstable footing caused it to tumble. It flipped the beast in the air and it flew to the wall.

I chased after the damn thing before it even crashed since it would be the only real chance I would have to kill the thing in one go. Seconds after it hit the wall with its belly exposed to me, I was already upon it. I had lept and directed a downward stab into it. When the length of my sword went in, I dragged my blade through its interior. I dealt as much damage as I could as quickly as I could. Flesh parted with ease and squeals of pain erupted from under me. Black blood sprayed from its wound, but the substance was evaporating before it could land on me. Soon the body was slowly fading as I had continued my attack.

Not wanting for its death throes to kill me by accident, I put one foot down upon the dissolving corpse and press down hard to prevent its movement. My eyes never leaving its decaying form until I knew it was dead.

"Bravo! Bravo! Nicely done! I'm starting to see why you were ranked ten despite your low combat score!" Professor Pringles (Port) stated loudly with the most bored clapping I ever heard. He was not impressed. Probably took too long or had to resort to using a trick rather than just powering through.

"Ranked what?"

"Ten, whoops. You all were supposed to find that out with Glynda later. Well, I suppose now is a good a time as any. The results for Initiation have just finished being analyzed and you have all been graded and ranked accordingly."

"Ten out of twenty-eight?"

I'm legitimately surprised that I was ranked that high. I mean out of twenty-eight, ten is just above average. How were eighteen other students ranked lower than the guy with no training?

"Out of thirty-two," Professor Pringles said gravely.

Oh...

Judging by his reaction, I can assume that he disagreed with the decision. Probably another lesson left in the open by the Headmaster. A constant reminder.

I could feel the grip on my sword harden.

My negativity was soon dispersed as the teacher in front of me decided to continue the conversation without mentioning the deceased.

"Since it would be unfair of me to only allow Mr. Arc to know of his standing, I'll write up the names of everyone on the board. Feel free to pack up your notes."

No one made any movement except to lean forward in anticipation.

On the board, the names were slowly written out as followed:

1\. Li Ren

2\. Yang Xiao Long

3\. Pyrrha Nikos

4\. Blake Belladonna

5\. Ruby Rose

6\. Nora Valkyrie

7\. Azure Vongola

8\. Amy Thyst

9\. Pew Terra

10\. Jaune Arc

11\. Weiss Schnee

12\. Cardin Winchester

13\. Russel Thrush

Etc.

He didn't write down numbers twenty-nine to thirty-two.

Did Ren really get placed first? I'm legitimately surprised about that. While I'm sure he was a strong fighter by his own right, I seriously doubt he could take either Yang or Pyrrha. Also, how the hell did I get placed above the Ice Queen? She must have had all the best tutors and combat instructors prior to coming here. Why was_

"This list makes no sense," a rather shrill voice sounded off. When I looked at the source, I could see looks of disdain from many of my peers. Though some seemed to agree with her given the reluctant nods they were giving.

"Of course the list makes no sense, Ms. Schnee. I have yet to tell you how this list was made," the Professor said with a slight gruff.

"What exactly are the criteria?! In what world does Pyrrha Nikos not get placed first! How did this bumbling boy manage to score that high (Translation: higher than her)? He had so much difficulty dealing with the Boarbatusk! You even put a fifteen-year-old child as number five! She was having naptime in class! Just what are the criteria!?"

I would be much more offended if it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't said anything untrue. Sorry, Ruby. Also naptime? Must have been before her doodling. I did also have far too much difficulty for dealing with an introductory Grimm. Gods, I'm agreeing with my soulnemesis. I must be sick.

"We determined these ranks after considering many factors. Combat skill alone simply is not good enough. Beacon graded you on your tactics, reasoning, leadership, initiative, decision making, combat, spatial awareness, teamwork, how quickly you accomplished the mission, and many others. Some factors were weighted more heavily than others due to overlap in criteria. In fact, combat score doesn't get you very many points in terms of ranking due to being only in a few categories. If we only needed mindless drones, we would be using Atlassian tin cans instead. There would be no need for Huntsmen and Huntresses."

The Professor paused for a moment to let the message settle. It calmed down some as they realized that low rankings didn't necessarily mean that they were incompetent in fighting. I guess they really only cared about their combat score. Though the Schnee was still fuming.

Seeing that the heiress was still ready to argue, the man sighed before continuing the discussion.

"Let's take Mr. Arc for example and his demonstration today. Quite frankly, his technique could use a lot of work. He missed many opportunities to slay the Boarbatusk in the fight. Even when he followed the standard procedure to slay the beast, he failed. His aim was either off or he did not have the strength to do real damage. But instead of giving up or utilizing a tactic that he knows will fail, he adapted. He looked for another way to deal with the situation. He repurposed a piece of equipment that was acting as dead weight in the fight. It was unorthodox but had zero downsides at this point aside from leaving him without the shield. However, it worked and he capitalized on the chance presented to him. He also was very cautious since he made sure the beast was dead before looking away. Impractical in reality, but a good habit when there is nothing left to slay."

That sounded about right in terms of what happened, but I'm pretty sure he was missing the fact that I was thinking out of desperation rather than thinking it through.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to argue her way up the leaderboard, she gave me a look. It was very concerning since she had decided that I was her rival or possibly some obstacle that needed to be brushed aside. Not much different before except now I was taking her attention rather than be the side annoyance. This worried me given how callous she seemed about human life.

I knew for a fact that she had allowed two students to die, and she acted as though she had nothing to feel guilty about.

People who, as far as I knew, had done nothing to her.

What would she do to someone she had reason to hate?

"Well, now that is all settled, off to lunch and then your next class. Please read the first two chapters in your books by next the next session. Also, Mr. Arc, please refrain from drinking in excess. We are still cleaning the Bullhead that you and your friends used last night."

* * *

 **Beacon Cafeteria - Dinner**

"Is she here?" I asked nervously, not daring to enter the room until I knew that her watchful eyes would not be able to find me.

I hated how the school had our rankings made publicly available. Because of it, a certain someone was being an absolute bitch all day. She kept hounding my footsteps at every turn, and she kept giving me a critical look. She kept judging my every move and calling out my mistakes whenever possible. This was made worse given that Professor... scratch that. Doctor Oobleck seemingly decided to call me out for questions, examples, and demonstrations. Did he simply pick up on the fact that I was hopelessly clueless on history despite my family coming from a rather illustrious background before?! Or was he hoping that I would be able to provide some insight given my family name?

In either case, he would be sorely disappointed. Or at least had I not had help with the questions he had asked me.

While I had managed to answer a good amount of them due to some helpful side glances at Yang's notes that appeared after I was called, Weiss would always make some verbal remark or scoff whenever I failed to get the answer right. Which minorly ticked off Yang given Weiss was insulting the both of us at that point.

She was just absolutely horrid.

"Relax, Newbie. The big bad Weiss Queen isn't here," Yang chuckled.

I snorted, "Weiss Queen. That sound about right."

"Why does she have to be so crabby?" my partner huffed.

She had not been spared of Weiss's frosty attitude. Ruby had been chided on her more energetic personality multiple times between classes. Weiss often goaded the red reaper by talking down to her and referring to Ruby as a child despite them only being two years apart. While I'll be the first to admit that Ruby sometimes acted a bit younger than she should, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Ruby was still young and cleaned her act up when needed. If anything, her youthful attitude was a breath of fresh air.

Though she could do more in class and actually take notes.

Note to self, ask her questions first whenever I need to know something. It might get her to pay more attention in class if she thinks that she needs to answer questions for her so-called super-besties-better-than-the-restie.

Then again, maybe she already knew the content and I was just worried over nothing. It was probably all review for her since it was only the first day. I certainly didn't know a fair amount of the content, and I had desperately tried to rectify that particular problem by cramming as much information as I could into my skull in the library earlier. I didn't even get to join the game of Remnant that Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora had played. Only Ren was kind enough to help me cure my idiocy.

Despite my desire to play, it was probably for the best that I hadn't joined the game since Weiss had apparently been following Pyrrha and Nora (in other words, looking for a reason to criticize us). She still tried to blame me for not controlling my team and not forcing them to better themselves.

I both eloquently and stupidly gestured to her that Pyrrha and Nora were both playing and having fun as well.

She had not been amused, and less so when Nora had loudly commanded the Grimm to break the last of Atlas's knees.

Ruby had also let her displeasure known which had set off Weiss even more.

"Rubes, just ignore her. She's just being a big baby because the teacher's just told her that she wasn't anything special. At best, she's above average. She's eventually going to have to get used to the idea."

"In the meantime, it's just unfortunate that she's latched onto the idea that it's our fault," I sighed.

Yang merely gave a shrug that said, "What can you do?" before grabbing Ruby to head to get us some food. Ren and Nora had simply gone to look for a table big enough for our group.

"I'm sorry about her. I'll see if I can convince her to lighten up tonight."

Ah, dear sweet Pyrrha.

"You really don't have to do that, Pyrrha. This is really just a problem between Weiss, Ruby and me. I don't want you having to go through the trouble. And to be absolutely fair, Ruby and I didn't exactly have the best of first impressions. Ruby and she got into a Dust accident, and she and I got into a shouting match seconds after meeting. While Weiss definitely could be less... Weiss, we did play a part in this. It just kind of sucks that we are in this situation now."

"Still..."

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't talk to her. She is your partner, but... I guess what I'm saying is that... uh... Do it because you see a problem not because its a problem for us? I guess? I mean, it would likely just set her off on you if this was about... well us. I think? Then again everyone just seems to set her off. Except you, so maybe... Now I'm just babbling."

"Do it because I see a problem, not because of who? So something like last night?" Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully as she very briefly flickered her eyes toward Yang.

"Last night? Right... Yang. I'm pretty sure that I'm extremely lucky that yelling at Yang hadn't landed my skull into the wall. Also, pretty sure that it was extremely stupid for me to have gone back up."

"So, why did you come back? I seriously doubt that alcohol was enough to convince you to come back up since you left in a pretty foul mood, and Yang..."

"Can throw some nasty hits and asks questions third?"

"Third? What's the second?"

"The second punch."

Pyrrha just chuckled before continuing, "I'm sure she's not that bad. She would have at least given you a second to say something."

"I said some pretty nasty things. I more or less called her a monster and just tried to cut her out of my life. I wouldn't have blamed her if she did punch me on sight at the time," I remorsefully said.

"She was pretty broken up about it. She was... she wanted to chase you down you know?" Pyrrha said hesitantly.

What's this? Was Pyrrha telling me something Yang had revealed to her in private? While it was probably something Yang wouldn't want me to know given that Pyrrha just happened to be around when Yang was down, my curiosity kept niggling at me.

"Why didn't she?"

"She... Gave up? I'm not sure, but she seemed to have just accepted that you were done with her. Like it was something she feared, but somehow felt as though she knew was coming. Like..."

"Like this happened before?" I asked quietly as I tried to piece together the information.

"Yes. Like she had seen it before. Shocked that it was happening... again, but couldn't do anything to change it. That it was her fault and that it should have been expected," Pyrrha responded worriedly as she quickly caught on to the fact that I knew something.

Yang accepted the fact that she was able to be just be dropped without a moment's notice? Did Yang have abandonment issues? I mean, last night she had looked legitimately surprised that I had come back, but I had made it pretty clear prior to drinking that there was a pretty high chance that I was gone for good. A what if with some bases, but honestly it was unlikely to have ended like that. I would have eventually confronted her later given that we were on the same team.

But she had so easily accepted the concept that I was done with her even when I came back. I saw how she gave up during my rant to her. That was not the girl I knew. Yang was definitely not the type to ever give up.

Yang also just seemed too lively and free-willed to be chained down by such concerns.

But what if she acted as such because of being abandoned? What if she acted like she could handle the world as a result of being abandoned?

But then what about Ruby? The two are obviously are extremely close and were unlikely to leave each other. Also judging how the two can both go to Beacon, I can only assume that they had a loving family that could afford to send them here. So relations with the fami_

I then remembered what Junior told me. Yang was looking for her mother. A desperate attempt to deal with an information broker in order to find her mother.

The mother that abandoned her.

Fuck... When put into perspective, a lot of things made sense now. Yang had abandonment issues.

Is that the reason why she has been so insistent on keeping me in her grasp? Was she using her arm to actually put a collar on me? Out of fear that I would go back on my word and leave her high and dry? Was she still scared that I would just up and abandon her like her mother?

Pyrrha interrupted my thoughts by gently shaking my shoulder.

"Is everything okay?"

"I... I don't know?"

"Is Yang going to be okay?"

I was no therapist. Was she going to be okay? Pretty sure that having abandonment issues was the definition of not okay. But what could I do? I doubt Yang would be too receptive of the idea of going to a shrink. Might even set her off since she might think that I found something wrong with her, which would either enrage her or trigger the whole abandonment issue again. The only thing I think that I can do was just be there for her. So basically, just carry on?

"Yes?"

I wished I had more confidence in that statement. I really hoped that I was wrong about all of this. Yang didn't deserve to suffer something like this.

"Jaune? Please tell me what I can do. Yang... Yang is one of my best friends," Pyrrha managed to choke out in worry.

"Just... Just be there for her. Yang is a strong girl, but everyone needs someone at some point."

"Is th_"

"Wisely said, Mr. Arc," a male voice sounded behind us.

The voice had startled the both of us as it was a sudden interjection into our conversation. Looking back, we found that the Headmaster was standing behind us with cane and mug in hand.

"Sir, are we in your way," Pyrrha politely and worriedly asked.

"Only if your ego stretches across all of these doors," the man jested as he gestured to the numerous entries.

Pyrrha could only blush at this.

"In any case, I was actually looking for the two of you."

"You were, sir? Whatever for?"

"Why yes. Mr. Arc. Miss Nikos. I'll be honest, I want to know if Beacon is everything you imagined it to be."

"Excuse me?" I asked. Was this some sort of welcome introduction by the staff? Seems like something that would take too much time to do, or something that many teachers would find beneath them. Perhaps it was reserved for people of special interest? I mean, Pyrrha would fit the bill. But for me? The only_

Shit, he knows that I forged my way in. Of course, he would know. He's the Headmaster.

"Worry not, Mr. Arc. I can take a fair bit of criticism. It would not bode well if the Headmaster of a Huntsman academy couldn't."

"Why us?" my traitorous brain asked. Why are you questioning him? More time talking with him can lead to more problems for me.

With a smirk and a sip, the man said, "Maybe it's because the two of you interest me. Perhaps I find it odd that I find individuals from two different teams consulting each other rather than their own teammates or partners on the first day here at Beacon. Or perhaps its because two students of good repute decided to drink until the point of vomiting. I do know that you two don't normally drink or at all. And before you ask, the reason that I am not questioning Miss Xiao Long is that she does go... wild at times. I only care why you two specifically decided that you wanted to drink. And again, I know it's not because Miss Xiao Long convinced you to party."

"So you knew about that," I nervously chuckled.

"Hard not to when the hangar smells of sickness," chuckled Professor Ozpin.

"We're really sorry about that," Pyrrha said as she curled in her own body with guilt.

"Pretty sure that was all me. I don't imagine drinking as much as I did and getting on an aircraft with my motion sickness was exactly the best idea," I said to help alleviate Pyrrha's guilt.

"Mr. Arc is right about the vomit on the Bullhead. You emptied your stomach the moment you stepped off. Would you like to see the security footage?"

"So about your original question," I chuckled nervously to stop this talk about vomit.

"Why did you two decide to go drinking? Was it due to the events that transpired during Initiation?"

"... Yes?" we both answered hesitantly since we were still a bit confused as to how to respond to the man.

"For Miss Nikos, that would be a reasonable excuse. But for yourself, Mr. Arc. I believe you had a different reason. Perhaps it was due to my seemingly callous handling of the situation?"

"I... I'm sorry, sir," I grumbled quietly like a child caught red-handed.

"Worry not, Mr. Arc. You are not the only one to have found my lesson to... let's just say my handling of it could be better."

With that, the floodgates cracked open a bit.

"I just... I guess that I just saw that your lesson was disrespectful to the dead. It felt wrong..."

"It is."

"But you still went through with it," I said as I did my best to hold back a bitter tone.

"Because I have seen the results should I not. I'll spare you the details," the man grimaced as he stared into his mug.

"But_"

"Mr. Arc," the man said with a sharp tone before taking a moment to recollect himself and continue with, "I understand that it is disrespectful to the dead to do what I did. I truly do and wish it was not something that I had to do. But you have to understand that I'd rather that you hate me. That you loathe me. That you curse my name. I'd rather you do all of that because I did what I did. Because I do what I must. Because it means that you are still alive to do so. I refuse to have to bury more children because I could not impart the necessary knowledge and skills you will need to be a Huntsman. Was it morally wrong? Perhaps. But will it keep you alive? More likely than had I not made an example of the dead."

"But you could have handled it better," I said without looking the man in the eye.

Now that the man had laid it all out in front of me, I suddenly felt how gods damn petty I was earlier. He just seemed so... passionate? Sad? I don't know. All I knew before was that the man had his reasons, and I had thought he simply viewed us as disposable pieces. Tools just waiting to die. But now, I at least understood that he was a man willing to bear the sin of his actions because it was his responsibility. A responsibility he undertook to prevent children like us from dying.

"You ask the impossible. I cannot give both the lesson and the respect the dead deserve. I have tried and failed," Professor Ozpin said tiredly while focusing on his mug.

"I'm sorry, sir."

I meant it this time.

"Don't. Your ability to express displeasure over my actions shows that you have a code of morals that are inviolable. Much like a knight from fairy tales. It is refreshing to see a student aspire to be one," the Headmaster chuckled.

"Well, I best be off. I have other work to do, but if you two ever wish to speak to me, my doors are always open."

* * *

 **Side Chapter: The List**

Having finally finished interviewing all of the students today, I took a well-deserved break in my seat with a hot cup of coffee. Mr. Winchester will have to talk to Dr. Oobleck. He is in pain, and his usually brash nature is taking a turn for the worst. Miss Nikos has recovered nicely but still needs to be encouraged to interact with Miss Schnee. I'll leave that situation be for now since the Arc boy has taken it upon himself to help his soulnemesis.

Soulnemesis. I could only chuckle at that.

My musings were soon interrupted as the elevator dinged and revealed one of the teachers.

"Peter, I trust that you' accidentally' told the students of their rankings?"

"Ozpin, I still don't see why you insist that I must 'accidentally' divulge such information. It would hardly make sense why a man such as myself would make such a simple mistake."

"Oh come now, Peter. We can't have the students learning about the rankings in Glynda's class. That would just be asking for trouble since students would immediately demand to fight their way to the top. Peach can't even interact with her students. The nurse frightens all of the students too much. Bartholomew would go into far too much detail that the students would just get lost in the explanation. You are the only one we can rely on to deliver these results."

"The things I do for the future generations. Though I must say, it is always interesting to see the students get all riled up whenever the results don't line up with what they picture it to be," the man let out a hearty chuckle.

"I'm glad to see that you derive enjoyment from this tradition. Glynda was never one for such deception."

"It is rather amusing to watch some. Ms. Schnee has been watching the Arc boy like a hawk."

"That was the intention, yes. Hopefully, the girl will learn something from the boy, and while it is likely unnecessary that Mr. Arc needed extra pressure to succeed, it is always good to have someone on the opposition to stoke the fire."

"But I must ask, why is Mr. Ren placed at the top? Ms. Schnee did point out that Ms. Nikos should have been put at the top. If you wanted the list to do its job, wouldn't it be more effective to have placed the champion on top?"

"One, it's Mr. Li. Two, that is his actual placement. He is the closest to becoming a Huntsman at this point. Three, Ms. Nikos is too used to being known as the Invincible Girl. While she may not necessarily believe in that particular moniker, others do. They act accordingly and it has had negative consequences on her as a person. Hopefully, showing that she isn't the best will convince others to realize that she is just another Huntress in training and that may open the path for her to interact with her peers more."

"The boy's actually rank number one? That's honestly a surprise. What exactly convinced you to believe that he deserves that spot?"

"He's a survivor. You can see it in his eyes. He has this calm look as he quickly analyzes everything. I can see that he knows every escape point in a room he enters. His eyes also drift to the most vulnerable spot he can hit whenever he is interacting with someone. He's also mastered his body enough that I'm certain that he could kill Grimm with his fist easily. It also helps that he knows how to keep group morale up. There are a fair number of other reasons as well."

"I still feel as though putting him as rank one would be a mistake if only so that the list will still have some impact on the students' minds. Do you think that he would be able to take down Ms. Xiao Long or Ms. Nikos in Glynda's class? For your list to work, would it not rely on him being able to defeat either?"

"The list requires a fair number of things to going a certain way to keep the students motivated to learn in certain ways. Mr. Li maintaining his position is honestly not much of a concern as compared to some of the other events that I wish to see occur. Plus, I doubt the boy will have to fight either of the girls. Having talked to all of the students, I have an idea of the working relationship and dynamics of the teams. But if he must fight them... The boy can beat Miss Xiao Long easily. His style is a straight counter for her. As for Miss Nikos, she will be forced to reveal her hand. And doing so will reveal that she is not in fact Invincible."

"You have that much faith in him?"

"Not at all. I doubt he would ever truly be able to surpass Miss Nikos in a straight fight without taking every advantage that he could. What I have faith in is the nature of children. They are merely children and are thus predictable to a certain degree. They are also prone to making mistakes or fretting over the inane. A luxury I'm glad that they can afford, but something they must eventually be rid of prior to graduation. What I predict will happen is that Miss Nikos won't challenge the boy anytime soon because he's one of the first few friends she has made ever since becoming the Invincible Girl. She does not wish to harm any of her new found friends and will avoid situations that would put her on a pedestal in their mind. She desires to be normal," I could only scoff at the thought.

"Normal? Bah, she's merely a big fish in a small pond. She's good from what I can see in the footage, but she's only good for her age."

"No, she's a big fish in the sea as well. She's been holding back. If she truly wanted to or was pushed to do so, she could probably fight on equal terms with the likes of Qrow," I darkly said. That particular trait needed to be curbed. Holding back in any life or death situation was beyond ill-advised.

"Surely not!"

"Ms. Nikos has unfortunately gotten into the habit of restraining herself ever since one of the competitors in the tournament quit the circuit out of humiliation."

"And he blames her for his own incompetence?! And she blames herself?!"

I simply nodded. Peter always got like this whenever someone off-loaded one's failings unto another. More so when the victim agreed.

"I will certainly straighten her out!"

"No need. Glynda will do just that in her class. She was never one to allow anything less than one's best."

Peter just nodded, but he was clearly still dissatisfied. I simply dismissed him so that he could fume on his own.

With nothing else to do, I took a look at the true ranking list. It warranted an update after I had interacted with the students. Nine names caught my eyes simply for who they were.

1\. Li Ren

2\. Yang Xiao Long

3\. Blake Belladonna

4\. Pyrrha Nikos

7\. Nora Valkyrie

8\. Ruby Rose

9\. Weiss Schnee

13\. Cardin Winchester

18\. Jaune Arc

Winchester was going to be bumped down to fourteen.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

1) Like I said before, the shipping will progress depending on how well the characters interact with each other.

2) Li Ren has enough skills in all areas that he would be the guy most likely to survive to be a Huntsman. The others have so many issues that affect their decision making that they would all likely die if it wasn't for the fact that they are a literal squad of superhumans. There were so many times that they should have been crushed, fallen to their deaths, been burned, shot to death, etc. Blake literally gave away her position by announcing herself to the White Fang. Yang punched a robot without knowing if she could handle it. Ruby trusted a girl who hated her to not screw up launching her at a Nevermore. Fun to watch, but dumb in practice for all of them.

3) I'm not going to update this for about a month because I have exams are coming up and I need to do well on them.


End file.
